L.C. Smith Crown
 

L.C. Smith Crown circa 1920 12ga 30", Many special order features including duck engraving, very fine borderless checkering, checkered triggers, checkered safety, 3 position safety, and extractors. No single trigger which you find on most high grade Elsies.

Did the Research Letter give any hints as to why the purchaser would commission the ducks?

For those unfamiliar; the usual Crown engraving

https://photos.smugmug.com/LC-Smith/...n_03l_kc-L.jpg

Drew the LCS research letters only indicate grade, inspector and ship date, not worth bothering with in my opinion.

I like this crown lc smith.....charlie

Wow,that's pretty....
Glenn

I'm a Smith detractor, but I'll admit to that one's charm!! Will it fill the void until you find Ansley H. Fox 31736?

That’s a jewel!

Really nice gun Craig. I don't ever recall seeing a double trigger Crown previously. Not that I am an authority by any means but I've seen a few Crowns. It has to be one of a very few I would think. Congrats on that one.:bowdown:

I love the dogs on mine, but those ducks are sweet. I have never seen one like that.

That's a beauty!

31736 one of two HE-C's engraved with ducks instead of gamebirds. my personal holly grail! I did encounter the other HE-C at Hausmann's a few years back on a dealers table, 33046. The gun was not owned by the dealer and was not for sale. Unfortunately, it had been restocked. Maybe some day 31736 will fall into my lap, it would like winning the lottery for me.

What a beauty! I have owned a couple Crown 20s with dogs, but I like the ducks!

Thanks for sharing. That's a lovely gun. You should have some opportunities to use it soon for it's intended purpose.

I've seen too many LC Smiths with broken stocks..no interest in them. Design flaw?

LC Crown
 

Beautiful gun Craig. Like all the others, I've never seen on with ducks. For some reason I shoot them better than I shoot my Parkers. My 16 gauge Crown has a wooden fence behind the dogs; that's the best I can do...:)

The Syracuse guns had imported wood and didn’t suffer with stock quality issues. After the Hunter Arms takeover is when they used a lower quality wood that resulted in breakage issues. That’s what I remember reading somewhere.

Yes, it was a design flaw. Inadequate wood at the head of the stock

https://photos.smugmug.com/LC-Smith/...%20stock-M.jpg

Discussed here, along with some creative fiction from Dave ;)
http://www.16ga.com/forum/viewtopic....er=asc&start=0

My very well used farm implement 12g 1906 No. 00 has no cracks however, nor did my 1906 16g No. 0E, nor did my 1907 16g No. 2E.
My 1908 No. 00E did have a previous repair to the L lower stock finger.

104 out of 639 12ga Crowns were made with double triggers, only 39 were made with extractors. So this gun with extractors and double triggers is quite unusual, but my preference.

Only 104 ever, pretty rare then IMO. My preference is the same as yours. Sweet gun!