New member with a question about a Griffen and Howe

[Nelson]

I recently had the good fortune to obtain a griffen and howe , well it's arriving on Tuesday. It must be an early model it has a serial number of 494 and its chambered in a rare 404 jeffery.how can I find out more the original story about the owner. The builders , the value. I may have stumbled blindly into a diamond. All I was trying to do was filling my last few bucket list guns. Your help and comments would be Greatly appreciated. And I'm glad to be surrounded by gentleman of distinction. Pictures to follow

[Bill Murphy]

Contact Bob Beach on this site. He no longer provides G&H information, but he may assist you.

[Bill Murphy]

Read Michael Petrov's chapter on Griffin and Howe to get information on your guns pedigree by serial number. I hope your new gun is not marked Griffen and Howe on the barrel. The name of the famous company is "Griffin" and Howe.

[double barrel]

Griffin and howe are still in buisness you should be able to contact them.

[edgarspencer]

Most of G&H rifles were built on either '03 Springfield receivers, or Mauser '98 receivers. The early guns have been seen with lesser known receivers. I have had a few on Springfield receivers, and a .256 Newton on an early Model 54 Winchester receiver.
The Griffin & Howe stock is very distinguishable, and almost always with either an ebony, or horn cap. I've never seen one I didn't like.
Will Graham was the president of the famous Madison Ave. advertising agency William Estey (Phillip Morris, Campbells Soup, and many other household names). For at least 12 years, always on Christmas Eve, Will would go to A&F and commission a rifle. Every one was on a Springfield action. One at a time, he took each rifle to Africa, never firing more than one shot. Other than a few rounds sighting them in, and the one kill each, he never shot any of them again. He married for the first time, the year he died, and my dad was with him when he passed. He asked my dad to go and pick out a rifle, to remember him. After Will died, my dad told Will's wife he didn't need a gun to remember him, and that the guns should stay together. She still had 12 rifles when she passed in 1992.

[Bill Murphy]

My most beloved gun collecting and bourbon drinking partner was Andrew J. Cummings, who died at 95 years old about ten years ago. He tells a story about Eugene Meyer, the owner of the Washington Post before the war, inviting a group of his friends, including Andrew's father, on a big game hunting trip to Canada. All these guys were bird hunters and dog handlers who hardly owned a high powered rifle among them. Mr. Meyer detoured the trip to Canada to New York so they could visit Abercrombie and Fitch. There, everyone picked out a rifle, all of which were paid for by Eugene Meyer. The Mannlicher rifle that Andrew's father picked out was still in Andrew's gun room when he died. It was a beautiful full stocked light gun, but I don't know the caliber. I don't know whether the Griffin and Howe premises was shared with Abercrombie and Fitch at that time, as it was when I first visited there in 1961 when I was 14 years old.