Merkel 302 made in 1953

Just...lovely.

[QUOTE=Daryl Hallquist;317555]No, during the period of the Special Paragon the high grade guns were not marked as to grade. The Special Paragon had differences from the Paragon according to the catalogs and advertisements. The Special Paragon had a point pattern checkering, the single animal on the front end of the sideplate, the Baker name on the frame below the front end of the sideplate and a bit more engraving compared to Paragons of the same period. Wood on the Special Paragon was said to be an upgrade, but it is hard to distinguish wood quality between the grades. All , of course, were European walnut. Later, in the 700 or 800 serial number range, Baker again started marking the grade on the gun. Not sure why this change went either way.

Attached is a De Luxe quality gun, signed by Frank Mason.

Thanks, Daryl!

That fox chasing the ducks is some nice scene engraving, Jim!

Admiral Fletcher’s A grade Parker with a scene that could have been the shoreline at Annapolis. Look carefully and you can see the sailing ship offshore.

My 1906 Wm. Read & Sons catalog shows the Baker Paragon at $60. A photocopy of a little Baker catalog that I have, that someone inked 1905 on the cover of, shows the Baker Paragon at $60 and the Special Paragon at $75. It has the same picture of the Special Paragon as this The Sportsman's Review, Jan. 7, 1905, ad --

Attachment 90737

The next Baker catalog I have shows the Baker "Krupp," Grade "N" as the $75 gun --

Attachment 90739

while the Baker "Paragon," Grade "P" is still $60 --

Attachment 90740

It seems from my collection of catalogs that prices were pretty stable from the latter 1890s to about 1915, then inflation related to The Great War drove prices up very sharply to the early 1920s.

My EE Lefever. Nothing fancy or pretty, but it's kinda neat and a great shooter!
Chris

I also have this neat Baker, does anyone know the grade?

Nice guns, Chris! That might be an A or B grade. Hopefully someone who knows will be along after a bit. The Lefever is really nice with the single trigger and straight grip.

The Baker appears to have twist barrels, if so, it is a B Grade. If it were Damascus, it would be an A Grade.

This is a signed Spangler on Special Order Lefever SN# 10,000

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/61872_600x400.jpg

https://www.jpgbox.com/jpg/61873_600x400.jpg

Baker used a variety of engraving patterns on their A and B Grades.

The actual text from a 1900 issue of The Baker Gunner -- "We do not guarantee that every "B"( or "A") grade gun will be engraved from just the same design, but endeavor to have about the same amount of engraving on each. On receiving an order from a customer we try to select first, one which will fill the specifications as to gauge, weight, length of barrels, drop and length of stock, and then conform to customer's ideas as to engraving , as nearly as possible from guns we may have in stock, but always consider engraving of secondary importance. You may receive a "B" (or "A") with a different design of border, or a duck or a dog in place of the two quail or a dog pointing game, we cannot tell as it is our aim to give a variety of designs."

Dr Bob, that is some nice engraving, I like the realistic scenes and the acorns on the standing breech. I take it that it doesn't fall into a normal grading chart?

No, it is not graded. This was also before the first recorded Optimus. The serial number, 10,000, may have some significance as the very first Lefever hammerless was 5000.

Turn-of-the-century price comparisons
https://docs.google.com/document/pub...agUSXhewGB03SE

Remarkable effort Dave and Drew. It is really appreciated.

This isn’t anywhere near the same level as others have shared, but I liked the engraving on this trigger guard so much it made me buy the gun. It is a German percussion sxs 15 gauge with 34” barrels. I just loved the fact that there was a picture of someone loading his gun(with a ramrod) and his dog by his side…right on the trigger guard!

I guess you could say it was the subject of the engraving that made me like it so much.

That price drop reflects the change from publishing the high "List Prices" in their catalogs to publishing the actual "Net Selling Prices"


The A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogs from 1905 to the 1908 "Campfire" catalog showed list prices --

A - Grade ...... $50
B - Grade ...... $75
C - Grade ......$100
D - Grade ..... $200
F - Grade ..... $500
Ejectors ........$15

By the 1911 A.H. Fox Gun Co. "Campfire" catalog they were publishing both the "List Price", the same as 1908, and the actual "Net Price." They also published an Export Edition of the catalog with only the "List Prices" but with a little salmon color insert giving the "Net Prices."

By the 1913 A.H. Fox Gun Co. "A Fox Gets The Game" catalog they only give the prices that were the "Net Prices" in the 1911 and 1912 catalogs.

A - Grade ...... $37.50
B - grade ...... $50
C - Grade ......$70
D - Grade ..... $140
F - Grade ..... $350
Ejectors ........$12

By 1915 Ejectors dropped to $7.50 and C-grade and above were only offered with ejectors. Prices started up during 1916, and by the February 1st, 1920, Price list the were --

A - Grade ...... $68.25
AE- Grade ..... $80.75
CE- Grade ......$115.00
XE- Grade ......$175.00
DE- Grade ..... $275.00
FE- Grade ..... $500.00

That was informative to read and really gives a lot of context as to why way more $30 guns were sold than $75 guns. That's what I would have bought too if I only made 21 cents an hour!

That is really a nice scene, I get why you bought it.

It seems that many of our double gun manufacturers shot for a $25 actual net selling price gun -- Remington K-Grade, L.C. Smith 00-Grade, Lefever Arms DS-Grade, A.H. Fox Gun Co. Sterlingworth. Parker Bros. tried with the Trojan, the very first flier giving a price of $25.50, but they couldn't do it and by the second flier the price was $27.50. Ithaca gun Co. came in even cheaper With their $30 List Price Field Grade with an actual net selling price of $19.50, claiming they could put out the gun for less money because of their water power.

It does seem that way! $25 must have been a practical and psychological price point threshold for farm and blue collars back then. I remember reading that the Flues Ithaca had few parts, fast lock time and was inexpensive to make.

Farm & blue collar workers got cheap Belgian imports (T. Barker, Sam Holt, W. Richards, etc.) or Crescents Fire Arms Co. under their numerous trade brands, J. Stevens, H & R, Iver Johnson, W.H. Davenport, etc. That $25 price point was for prosperous farmers and young entrepreneurs.

Makes sense. Even then though, some of those cheap old guns shot loose pretty fast, so it would have made sense to save up for at least a Stevens. H & R and IJ might have been okay too?
Actually, what do you think of the functionality of the cheaper guns, Researcher? I'm kind of showing my own assumptions when I rate them that way. I've always thought of Stevens as solid guns, though.

the old stevens is a solid gun in my book....charlie

J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. and the J. Stevens Arms Co. made a lot of shotguns under their names and numerous "trade brands" with most have stood the test of time. I started my bird hunting career with my Mother's RANGER trade branded version of a J. Stevens Springfield No. 315. It had been restocked to a straight grip for her with a quality trigger guard by my great uncle who was a gunsmith in Seattle. I'm not much of a mechanic, and try to let those who know what they are doing go on the inside, but I suspect Crescents of soft parts. IMHO the best of the lower priced doubles are Ithaca's Lefever Nitro Specials.

This is an Ithaca Crass Grade 6 which is one of my personal favorites.

WOW. When it's lovely to be crass...

NDG

I know folks are currently enamored with Bulino or Banknote engraving, but give me the (still-real, but stylized,) engraving of the early 20th century. Teddy Roosevelt once said "I know what I like," but he was talking about apples, not art. With art I think for most it's rather "I like what I know." Makes you want to know more.

On the bottom of the frame, that dog climbing the fence is so cool!

Some great engraving on those pre McGraw Ithaca doubles.

from a BHE I once owned. but wished I kept, :cuss:
scott

Those Crass guns had such fine decoration
 

Here's a Grade V.

https://i.imgur.com/cY0SlKv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/CxXzTpU.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fwSvhgh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mDhv7rl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/E7rMOp9.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/w2CkXpC.jpg

This is my favorite. An early factory engraved Spencer.

I've looked for years for engraved Spencers and Burgess and other very early repeater shotguns. I have never seen anything like your Spencer. Congratulations

Thank you Daryl! Sounds like we have something in common. Here is one more you might like.

Scott,

Does that gun have raised beads on the edges Trigger guard bow? Or is it just the engraving making it look that way? If you recall.

Boy Brian i don't remember that, sorry. The gun did have 2 gold in lays, one in the stock and the other the grip cap. Most had a choice for the gold one or the other but not both and this was one of the earliest ejector gun made.
Scott

The Spencer with the Prairie Chicken and chicks with the hill and split rail fence in the the background is a beautiful engraving scene, among my favorites in this thread. The ducks on the other side are just great too. In both scenes, the case coloring gives an impression of clouds.