Received the letter on my friend's gun . Shipped on Feb 7, 1898 to Oren Scotten in Detroit. Pistol grip cap was engraved "OS" (cap now has been burnished enough that the letters are missing) Weight is 9#, 15 oz. Price was shown as $300, discounted to $225. Gun was retuned in 1905 for rebrowning of the barrels and redressing the stock. Preliminary investigations show that Mr. Scotten's was a major industrialist in Detroit, making his money in tobacco. He would have been 48 when he purchased this gun. There is no clear understanding of how the gun ended up with my friend's grandfather. There is a whispered conjecture that the gun may have been won in a card game.
|