The mythology may have started related to the sale of presumed
frame steel.
July 1, 1920
American Machinist published an Ordnance Salvage Board Surplus Property Sale of almost 75,000 pounds of “Spec. Shape Gun Steel” from the A.H. Fox Gun Co. with C .15-.25%, Mn .5-.7%, S & P < .06% = AISI 1020
https://books.google.com/books?id=ez...=RA1-PA409&lpg
An occasional Sterlingworth 'SB&Co' mark is likely that of Samuel Buckley & Co., which also supplied Ithaca rough forged tubes.
The mark is a different font than the Sanderson Bros. mark found on Smith and some Ithaca Flues guns.
The
American Exporter’s Export Trade Directory of 1915 listed Samuel Buckley & Co. as “chiefly importers” with offices at 16 East 33rd St., New York, 2 Soho Square, London and Liege, Belgium.