My first Ithaca

[Jay Oliver]

I picked up this 12ga Ithaca up over the summer. It seems like a a worthy project, though I haven’t done anything to it yet. It needs stock work, a mechanical cleaning and the left firing pin in not installed though I have it. I believe this is a 1897 gun, it’s cool that it has ejectors, nothing better than a damascus gun with ejectors and the right side dog engraving looks a little like my dog.

It feels and looks like the equivalent of a Parker on a #3 frame. It weighs 8 3/4lbs. Barrels are 30 inches and the bores are mint. I always like a straight stock. I will get it sent out for some much needed attention in 2025. Should be wonderful when it is fixed.

[Dean Romig]

Real pretty Jay - looks like a Grade-3 .





.

[Garry L Gordon]

What great engraving!

[Jay Oliver]

I see it is possible to get a research letter on these as well. I will order one after the holidays...

[David Noble]

That's a great looking gun Jay. So, are you going to get the original wood repaired and refinished, or have new wood made for it? I would vote for restoration of the original wood.
I'm an ejector guy myself, and agree that damascus guns with ejectors are something special. Good find!

[George Lang]

Beautiful example of an early Ithaca, can't wait to see the finished project. Looks to be a grade 4 late Crass or early Lewis model.

[Dave Noreen]

Congratulations on your beautiful Crass No. 4E.

There is a similar No. 4E pictured on Pages 288 and 289 of the Second Edition of Walter Snyder's book, with the engraving attributed to Robert Runge Sr. by his son. That gun has, the typical for No. 4s, American Flag Damascus barrels.

Calling Dr. Drew to identify the Damascus on this gun.

[Drew Hause]

Spectacular gun

The Crass & Lewis era catalogs listed the No. 3 as "Fine Damascus" and No. 4 as "Very Fine Damascus"; Crown steel was also listed for both.
I've seen Chain on a Crass & Lewis Gr. 3 and both "Washington" (no stars in the scrolls) and "American Flag" (with stars) on a Lewis Gr. 4, and "American Flag" on this Lewis I believe is a Pigeon No. 2

https://photos.smugmug.com/Damascus/Ithaca/i-BXC6tZx/0/Ls28f7Kcb5XQPHPMGWRdh8RwGWfRWqsjxJMZQTCps/M/Ithaca%20Lewis%20Grade%202%20American%20flag-M.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Damascus/Ithaca/i-BXC6tZx/A)

Jay's gun is a 4 Iron "Oxford" Crolle.
I tried to enhance the image and the arrows indicate the ribband edge where the scrolls were squished (how's that for engineering exactitude? ;) ) when the edges were "jumped". The arrow on the far R shows the straight ribband edge weld rather than the 'zipper' welds between the rods

https://photos.smugmug.com/Damascus/Ithaca/i-FxG5NCV/0/K85QLD6Nns7wD29gRvMMnCr9Fsz5JGRjw2vc26jFg/M/Crass%20Gr.%204-M.jpg (https://drewhause.smugmug.com/Damascus/Ithaca/i-FxG5NCV/A)

Flues No. 3 were "Chain Damascus" and No. 4 "American Flag"; Krupp was also listed for both at least c. 1915.

[edgarspencer]

Very similar rib extension to the 'enhanced Trojan' discussed in another thread.

[Brian Dudley]

Beautiful gun. The engraving is different in some ways than I have seen on some early ithacas.

[Stan Hoover]

Nice 4E Crass there Jay,
As Brian commented, the engraving is somewhat different than the Grade 4 Crass guns I’ve observed, specifically the rear of the frame.
Ejectors on these Crass guns is a little rare in my opinion, good find!

I didn’t have a chance to double check the book, but I’m not usually seeing the push button forearm release on the Crass model, is this a late Crass, I cannot quite see the serial #?

[Jay Oliver]

Thanks everyone for the comments on this Ithaca. When I saw this I was just drawn to it and had to have it! The serial# 29725 and they all match. I guess that would be mid production for the Crass?

If the stock and forend can be repaired it would be great to keep the existing wood. Then I would just have a mechanical service and re-install the left firing pin. I might leave everything else alone.

It will be great to get this out shooting again.

[Jay Oliver]

Here is one close in serial# with similar engraving: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/86/1358/ithaca-grade-4e-crass-model-double-barrel-shotgun-two-barrel-set

[Stan Hoover]

Those 2 guns sure look like the same engraver to my eyes.

I'll have to do some reading to see if Walt noted when the forend latch may have been changed, I was going off of my memory and that's not usually a wise thing to do:rolleyes:

The Crass model ended at serial # 50,000 approximately, so yes, this would be somewhere in the middle of Crass production.
These models definitely have some great engraving, I should hunt more birds with them.

[Arthur Shaffer]

Nice gun. I always liked the Chain and the American Flag damascus. For some reason, the chain damascus on Ithacas seemed to be one of the most consistently perfect as to pattern regularity that I have seen on damascus guns. The obvious pattern and the regularity I think yields a stunning effect.

[Dave Noreen]

During the 13-year run of the Crass Model there was a lot of variation in the engraving patterns as the Ithaca Hammerless grade structure evolved. Some of the earliest No. 4 were not very fancy, then they got very elaborate and into the upper 2xxxx range they settled into this style. The No. 4E with the engraving attributed to Robert Runge is 29880, two digits after the RIA gun linked above.

I don't know the serial number of this No. 4 Crass picture I saved --

130105

[allen newell]

Very nice gun there Jay