Posted by Drew Hause on November 30, 2021, 7:52 am
The Hunter Arms Co. New Designs of 1913 are discussed in greater detail in “The L.C. Smith Specialty Grade” by Drew Hause, James Stubbendieck, and Terry Allen, The Double Gun Journal, Volume 23, Issue 1, Page 45, 2012.
I’ve come across images of the 1912 – 1913 ads in both sporting and general interest popular magazines which should be of interest.
1912 must have been a tough year for the Hunter Brothers. They had survived “The Panic of 1907” when the Knickerbocker Trust Co. collapsed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 48% of its value, and unemployment rose from less than 3% to 8%. In response, the Hunter Arms Co. and Parker Bros. were both forced to lower the prices of every grade double. The $105 2E in 1898 went for $95 in 1908.
At the same time, the Hunter Brothers were fighting with the New York State Board of Water Engineers over proposed changes to a barge canal between Syracuse and Oswego which would eliminate the Battle Creek Dam and the water power source for their Battle Island Paper & Pulp Co., a conflict they would eventually lose.
Then came rumors that Congress was about to lower import tariff rates as part of what became The United States Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or Underwood-Simmons Act. Since 1894 "Sporting, breech-loading double-barrel shotguns" had a 35% ad valorem PLUS an import duty of $1.50 if priced less than $6, $4 if $6-$12, and $6 if priced greater than $12. "Single-barrel breech-loading shot-guns" had the same 35% ad valorem PLUS an import duty of $1.
The Revenue Act of 1913 became law and re-imposed the federal income tax and lowered the basic tariff rates from 40% to 25%, well below that of the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909. The 1913 Act established the lowest rates since the Walker Tariff of 1857. Most schedules were put on an ad valorem basis (a % of the dollar value of the item.) The duty on woolens went from 56% to 18.5%. The duty on breech loading shotguns was lowered to 15%. Steel rails, raw wool, iron ore, and agricultural implements had zero rates.
Suddenly, foreign shotguns began to flood the American market.
What were the Hunter Brothers to do to maintain both market share and cash flow?
The usual marketing technique for increasing sales was to introduce something “New and Improved.” Hunter Arms however had been declaring in their ads and promotional materials that the L.C. Smith Top-Action Double Cross-Bolted Breech-Loading Double Barrel "Bar Action" Hammer Gun introduced by L.C. Smith Maker, Syracuse in 1884, and the "New L.C. Smith Hammerless Gun" using Alexander Brown's rotary locking bolt and lock in 1886, were “Shotgun Perfection Reached”, had “No Shortcomings”, and (the hammerless Smith at least) was “The Gun of Perfection.”
June 1912
The "22 Years" would help establish the beginning of the Hunter Arms Co. to the incorporation January 1890.
Re: New But Not Improved
Posted by Drew Hause on November 30, 2021, 8:09 am, in reply to "New But Not Improved"
Since it is hard to improve on “Perfection”, the Hunter Brothers decided on “New”; as in one new grade, new engraving patterns, and new names. In 1913, the De Luxe grade was introduced at a cost of $1000. The A3 became the Premier, the No. 5 the Crown, the No. 4 the Eagle, the No. 2 the Specialty, the No. 1 the Trap, the 0 the Ideal, and the 00 the Field. The Monogram remained as the third highest grade. The A2, No. 3, and the Pigeon were discontinued.
From the “New Catalog of New Designs”
You will not look for conspicuous new “improvements” in the 1913 L.C. Smith Guns, because 6 Hunter brothers’ 23 years of invention, expert workmanship and concentration of purpose have improved the Smith Gun to the point where improvements cease to stand out against the background of “No Shortcomings.” But you will see a complete new set of designs, so handsome in engraving, embellishment and finish, that you will be delighted to the point of ecstasy when you handle and examine them. And you’ll wonder that the prices are not double. Not new models – merely the regular L.C. Smith Guns beautifully re-designed and given names instead of numbers.
In the upcoming Winter 2021 Journal of the LCSCA, Dr. Jim documents the Hunter Arms' sales by year. Interestingly, a significant number of "New Designs" guns were sold in 1912, and pre-1913 model guns in 1913 and 5 were sold in 1914.
According to the records I have the last 12 gauge 2 E RE216962, 28" Chain Damascus barrels made January 14, 1914. There was one other 2E made later but in the Record books it is listed as a Specialty Grade.
