The L.C. Smith Collectors Association
[ Message Archive | The L.C. Smith Collectors Association ]

    Re: First series monogram Archived Message

    Posted by SGT on January 30, 2007, 12:09 am, in reply to "Re: First series monogram"

    There are unusual Smith guns still remaining to be "discovered", which of course is one of the most interesting aspects of collecting. I would speculate that if this 20/410 Crown is recorded within the remaining shipping records it would be recorded as a 20-bore (the .410 barrels would have had to be made to fit the 20-bore sized breechballs); and if you could remember the serial number, we could double check to be sure. Obviously, assuming the serial number of this gun is recorded, the .410 barrels were not noted within the ledger entry, as something that unusual would certainly have been noted in at least one of the two recaps. That said, I once had an interesting conversation with a long-time Smith collector from NY State who had the opportunity to meet a number of original Hunter employees. One of these employees, who was a bookkeeper in the office, told him that she had maintained a separate serial number ledger for guns sold to employees. He tells me he has had a couple of leads on the whereabouts of this ledger, and obviously it has yet to surface; but this collector believes the story is credible. Assuming this separate ledger exists; and if the gun you describe was indeed made for a company sponsored shooter, it is likely the records for such a gun would be recorded within this employee ledger. I am aware of two Crown grade guns (one 16-bore and one 12-bore) that are not in the serial number recaps; the 16 was a salesman's sample, and the 12-bore was originally owned by an upper-level factory executive. Such guns do give credence to the possible existence of a separate ledger for employee guns. Moral: Collectors must always remain vigilant, else something really unique is overlooked or discounted as fake; and further, it is impossible to know when one just might stumble unpon that once in a lifetime opportunity.


    Message Thread: