Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday Archived Message
Posted by Tom Archer on March 27, 2014, 10:53 pm, in reply to "Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday"
The fact that the numbers match is a plus; but something happened to cause someone to do some very unprofessional work on the forend wood and iron (perhaps the fore iron strap broke/cracked at the base of the knuckle requiring a welding repair?). A correct Pigeon Grade fore iron will feature carved flutes on the knuckle, and that portion of the iron will also be engraved with line and scroll. A Smith fore iron was also color case hardened; whereas someone has filed or buffed away the fluting and engraving and has re-blued the metal in an effort to put a finish over whatever repair was done. In looking at the underside of the iron, this iron is an example of the very early Type II ejector iron; and shortly after this iron was manufactured the base of the Type II irons was widened and re-inforced for strength. Additionally these early Type II ejector irons featured a round escutcheon secured by two very small slotted wood screws. When the iron was reinforced, the escutcheon was also changed to the ejector escutcheon most commonly associated with a Smith gun and usually referred to the "banjo" style escutcheon. This modification was more esthetically pleasing, but was primarily to strengthen the front portion of the forend; as its anchor screw served to sandwich the forend wood between the escutcheon plate and fore iron strap making these component pieces one solid unit. In this case the escutcheon has been entirely replaced with an odd oval shaped piece that resembles nothing I've ever seen from the factory. In my opinion the original wood has been replaced with a forend wood from a field grade gun, as there is no evidence this piece was ever fitted with an ebony forend tip insert; which feature was standard issue on all pre-13 Pigeon Grade Smith guns. Additionally, whatever checkering might have been on that replacement wood has been sanded away (probably because the original was such a poor match to the grip panel checkering pattern). As I personally lack the intelligence to post pics; I'm hopeful that Dr, Drew or J. David will chime in soon and post pics of an unaltered PE fore iron and wood; and also pics of the strap and escutcheon differences between the early and later/improved Type II ejector irons (there is an article in an earlier LC Journal showing those differences in detail). And I sincerely hope you don't feel I've insulted you or your Smith gun with my comments, as it was never my intention to deride this gun; my intent being solely to help you, and others understand what it is you have; and to use this example as an a teaching tool to give you and others greater insight to aide in the identification of key factors regarding gun evaluation. As to the gun you have featured here, other that the flawed forend; it is an excellent piece, and I encourage you to have these forend issues properly corrected. Best Regards, Tom
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Message Thread:
- Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Grey McLeod March 27, 2014, 1:10 pm
- 1902 PigeonE HOT - Drew Hause March 27, 2014, 4:15 pm
- 1902 Pigeon Grade SXS - Jent P Mitchell III March 27, 2014, 5:17 pm
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Grey March 27, 2014, 7:55 pm
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Jeff B. March 27, 2014, 8:10 pm
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Grey McLeod March 27, 2014, 9:48 pm
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Tom Archer March 27, 2014, 10:53 pm
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Mills March 28, 2014, 9:55 am
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Grey McLeod March 28, 2014, 5:32 pm
- Re: Found this Circa 1902 Pigeon Grade Beauty at my LGS Yesterday - Tom Archer March 28, 2014, 10:24 pm
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