W.C.Scott and Sons Fine Engraving - Resource

[ArtS]

Dugger

Your gun's serial number is the 32564 number on the water table. The 1484 number is likely some kind of registration number associated with the patent. The patent referred to in the diamond is # 761 issued in 1878 for the hammerless cocking system. A serial number of 1484 would indicate an 1874 manufacture date. Scott began experimenting with hammerless guns in 1874 but did not officially put them into production until the 1878 model. This jibes with the fact the gun is marked in two places as "The Premier" ("Quality" on the rib and "Gun" on the water table). W&C Scott went into business in 1840. Serial numbers were introduced in 1865. This gun was put into production with the formal name of "The Premier Gun" and was made for 10 years from 1878 to 1888. They made one higher grade the last 5 years of that period from 1884 to 1888. It was called "The Excellentia Triplex" and included their new bolting system. As far as I know all later guns of your grade were simply marked "Premier Grade". Premier was their highest grade until the Excellentia was introduced.

The 10 Castle St address was significant in that only their highest grade guns were marked as made there. Their better quality guns had a different London address and the least expensive guns generally carried a Birmingham address. This is a good system to know in that a lot of their top quality guns were made to a rather plain finish level but built to the highest mechanical level. This was often the case with guns purchased for hard use. I have a light weight eight gauge single shot Jones style lever model made in 1872 or 1873. It was sold as a Light Waterfowl model but so few were built I have found no catalog listing. It carries the 10 Castle St. address and is built to an incredible fit and finish level but has only a couple of line engravings on the edges. It has some of the most beautiful English Laminate barrels I have ever seen. During this era, the English laminate barrels were some of the most beautiful barrels ever made and many of the highly thought of Damascus barrels were not as attractive as the laminates. Scott and P. Webley (who Scott later acquired) were known for their visually impressive laminates. Over the next few years the Damascus makers started producing many more famous patterns.

Your gun was built in the first year of production for this model (1878). It looks exactly like the illustration in the book I have. If you compare it to any of the high grade guns of the period it is an incredible piece. The dealer and American price list of the period shows a list price of 42 pound Sterling for your gun. This would have been a $200 range gun at the time, which was a pretty expensive item.

Hope this helps.

[DuggerWebster]

Hello Arthur,

Been out a bit but wanted to say Thank you Sir for taking the time to share that knowledge.

Wow! 1878. That's getting back there and it's as tight as a tick.
Fascinating piece of yours as well with that Jones Style 8ga.And even earlier back. They were good at what they were doing and yes, $200 back then! Must have been worth it for sure.

Best to you
--Dugger