Fox CE
 

I bought my first graded Fox. It's a 12 gauge 1914 Fox CE with Krupp 30" barrels choked F/F. The gun matches the build card. I really like the checkering.

Fantastic, nice score.:bowdown:

whats not to like


very nice

Very nice Steve, please show us the wood.





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Here you go Dean.......

Very nice - Thanks!





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Well done Stevie!

Gorgeous gun, Steve! Well done.

Dave

Beautiful gun Steve, not bad for your first Fox, what's the second Fox going to be.............?

:cheers:

Very nice. Woodcock and a setter, can't beat that.....

The dogs on C grades vary quite a bit over the years as does the background engraving. Yours is particularly nice.

WOW!!! Quail too. That gun belongs in N Georgia. I can tell by the trigger plate.

You want to check out Frank Srebro's article in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Twenty-Six, Issue 2, page 125.

I would like to Dave but unfortunately I do not have that issue.

This is one of only four C Grade 12-gauge Foxes with heart-shaped cheek checker panels that were known at the time of that article. I also knew of two in 20-gauge = a total of six original guns. I haven't heard of any more since then.

Steve, I know who owned your gun prior to the dealer where you bought it (I saw it advertised) and also know who he bought it from, some years earlier. Sorry but that info was given to me in confidence and I can't share it here or privately without going back on my word. Maybe the earliest owner mentioned can provide more data if/when he reads this thread.

frank

Thanks Frank for the information on the side checkering. Very cool:) I am aware of one of the former owners, where in line I do not know, that copied Fox records at Savage.

If the owner you mentioned could contact me it would be greatly appreciated.

Steve, here's what I can share without compromising my word: a little more than a year ago, gent "A" asked me if I wanted to make a package buy on 3 Foxes which included your Heart CE. I declined because I was (and am) on a mission to reduce the collection. I already knew that A owned the Heart CE because he'd given me info on it for the article, some months before that. I know for sure that A never worked at Savage. He told me that he'd bought the gun from gent "B", and I also know that B hadn't worked at Savage. I do not know how B came to get the gun, nor have I ever had it in my hands.

When I saw your gun recently listed I assumed that A had sold or consigned it to that dealer, however there may have been another intermediate party involved since A and the dealer are many states apart.

frank

That gun was once owned by my good friend Bill Harris DeFuniak Springs Florida, sadly Bill is deceased. I was lucky to know Bill and visited him at his 750 acre Plantation in Florida in 2009. Bill was one of the collectors that copied the Fox records at the Savage plant. Bill donated a copy of the factory records to the AHFCA in 2009. Bill had a separate building dedicated to his substantial gun collection. When I visited him in 2009 he had 14 Super Foxes, it blew me away!!! Bill always felt 21308 was the first second style C grade gun. However, we have observed a lower serial number second style C 20762.

Craig, thanks for the added information on my gun, Steve

Craig,
For the uninformed among us could describe the differences in C's styles one, two, etc. Thanks, Larry

If anyone has a spare copy of the Double Gun Journal Volume Twenty-Six, Issue 2 I am interested in purchasing it. If you do, please contact me by PM, thanks.

I have found a copy, thanks,

Craig,
If I'm not mistaken did'nt my BE come out of the same collection?

Steve I didn't see this post until you told me about it sat. VERY NICE GUN, ! Now you can trap shoot with use.:)

Steve I think you can get a copy from DJ as they have most of the back issues in stock. Can't hurt to give them a call.

Larry: I wrote an article describing the differences in Fox C grades in the summer edition of the DGJ page 110.
Daryl I am not sure about your B coming from the Harris collection.

Eric, thanks, that is where I found a copy last night and ordered it.

Craig,
Unfortunately I don't receive DGJ anymore but in looking at my early (14851) CE 12x26 I see a couple of differences. One is the shape of the safety switch and the other being style and layout of the engraving. There could be more but I don't have enough experience with the brand. The CE Steve has shown here is a great gun with really nice engraving.

Steve, as we talked before you bought this gun, and to compound on what Craig wrote, Billy Harris knew guns and if one came to live with him it was top notch. He was a good judge of character too, which I'll leave for a private conversation. Congratulations!

I really enjoy the Fox guns...I have been wanting a 16ga. C or CE that has good tight chokes and modern stock dimensions. That said its a scarce gun to find indeed!, and pricy too!! I have had the CE Fox that is at the Cabela's store in WV in my hands three times or more, Its really nice gun but has ton of drop...3" at the heal. I would need it re-stocked and the asking price is still way high...I think. SXS Ohio

Steve that's a very nice Fox congrats. I bought my first one last summer from a friend, also a CE but with 32 inch tubes and a straight stock. I hope you can make it to one of the shoots and bring her along.

I'd love to find a C or CE in a small bore but that's a quest both for the gun and the funds to acquire it:). The fun is in the hunt however.

There are really more then just 1st and 2nd style C-/CE-Grade engraving. There is the early "banner" style engraving Which appears in the first two A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogs with the Wayne & Bristol Streets address --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...eleftclose.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...rightclose.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...saaf79ea6.jpeg

By the third A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalog which shows the N. 18th Street & Windrim Avenue address the C-/CE-Grade is shown with the game scene oval on the sides --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s2scek5ib.jpeg