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As you know the AHFCA set up a display booth at the Hausman shoot this weekend in NE PA. The best part of booth duty is talking to collectors and getting an opportunity to handle some interesting Fox guns. At most shows Fox collectors will bring along some fantastic guns from there collection that have not seen daylight for years. Normally the guns are very nice like a mint 20ga Sterlingworth that a collector brought in for display. This Saturday was very special, Don Kaas a well known Parker and Fox collector was kind enough to bring in Burt Becker's serial number 4. Handling the gun and speaking with Don about the gun it's workmanship and history was one of the highlights of my weekend. The gun is a 12ga Straight grip, Don calls it a bits and pieces gun. The barrels were salvaged from Fox DE serial number 30073. It is a mystery how the barrels ended up with Burt. Don has a letter on 30073 and says it was a spectacular gun in it's own right. The trigger guard is a take off from Nash Buckingham's DE/HE special serial number 33050 (see DGJ Vol. 7 Issue 2). The original serial number has been nicely x'd out. Don removed the trigger guard and it is stamped with 33050 on the underside. It is interesting Burt salvaged parts to make a custom Fox, he must have been a thrifty man.
The gun is plain but very elegant. I am sorry about the quality of the pictures but the gun is in mint condition in my opinion. The breech balls are filed very elegant like a XE or DE but with deeper cuts between the breech balls and the top of the frame. The fancy back filing is superb and very nicely balanced. The polish is mirror and the case color looks like bone charcoal to me. The engraving on the barrels and barrel wedges is excellent, typical Becker pattern and quality. The wood fit and finish are perfect. The straight stock has a slight perch belly that is very elegant. Don tells me the barrels are bored just like a standard Fox. I would like to thank Don he made a special effort to show us the gun and it was appreciated by all present. It is a very interesting Becker with a connection to Nash, unbelievable. I learn new things about the AH Fox Gun Company and Mr. Becker every year. Craig Larter
Don Kaas
I concur with everything that Craig wrote....it was great of Don to share #4 with us. Thanks Don for spending the time to explain alot of the Becker nuances to me while examining your unique Fox. Like most of us, I have handled few Becker guns and it's always a treat to experience another.
The AHFCA had a wonderful display of great Foxes. I would like to recognize "Silvers & Co," for their dedicated hours at the "Bo Whoop" stand.
While I'm doling out accolades, I need to comment on what a wonderful event this NE SXS shoot is. This is my third year of attendance and the hospitality of Ernie Hausmann & family is as good as it gets anywhere. It is a great venue and they pay alot of attention to detail. It has turned into one of my favorite events of the year and I look forward to going back in 2011. Ofcourse being able to spend time with friends talking guns, smoking cigars, having a cold one & petting Labs walking by is about as good as it gets. Having a bunch of laughs with Morris B from RST always tops it off!!!
tjw
IN GOD WE TRUST. SPE Skeet & Uplands and AH Fox vent rib guns a specialty
What a great gun. Thank you, Don, for bringing it to the shoot. Sorry I missed seeing it. I thought I had seen all the neat stuff you and Russ brought, but I guess I missed the best of the best. Thanks Craig, for posting the pictures. If there are more, let's see them. Bill Murphy
Thanks for the posting the pics, Craig. That's the first early Fox I've seen with what I'd call a "multi-point" pattern....meaning more than 2. I've seen a few straightgrips with 2 at the front of the panel, but not 4. My personal favorite for custom redo's is a multipoint, but I never considered them very "Foxy." Nice to know that Becker did something similar.
Is it known that Becker did every facet of building these guns?...filing, engraving, stocking, checkering?
Beware the man with one gun...he likely will bore you to death in others ways, too.
Mike-It is my understanding Burt did it all metal and wood. A good background article is Tom Kidd's "The Second Becker" DGJ Summer 1999. Burt used the same 4 point checkering pattern on #2.
Thanks Craig for sharing the pic of the gun. I always like to here about Becker and his guns. Looks to me the frame is rounded not at a point like a run of the mill fox. Was this a Becker extra touch? Also thanks Mr.Kaas for sharing some of your fantastic guns with us. Donnie Reels
Wow,
A great gun.
Thanks Don for letting us all see this treasure and thanks Craig for posting this info.
I have a question. Is the frame numbered in the regular fox series and if so how does the letter read? Do any Becker guns letter as Fox or did he get the frames before the serial number was placed on them?
"I have more than I need, but not as many as I want"
"The search continues on many fronts"
Life Member, A.H. Fox Collectors Association.
According to Tom Kidd, Burt ordered guns from Savage in the white. Tom purchased Burt's shop and all of the correspondence so he would be the only person with accurate information. The AH Fox records do not encompass the Becker guns.
There are actually both kinds. There are pure "Becker" guns that he made?/assembled?/finished? that are serial numbered in his own numbers. There are also Becker guns that were ordered thru A.H. Fox Gun Co. and or Savage Arms Corp. that have "Fox" serial numbers, such as 33050 and 33051 (see The Double Gun Journal, Volume Seven, Issue 2), and the Senetor Harry B. Hawes DE-Grade 20-gauges, 203603 and 203660 (Volume Fourteen, Issue 1).
I don't know the barrel length on Becker #4. Maybe the owner or Craig will clear that up. It is a hard core PA pigeon gun, so I guess it is 30". By the way, I was at a duck club on the Potomac a few miles below Marse Henry's place last year. I was leafing through the log book for the club and found Senator Hawes' name in the log. I don't know if Becker shooters Hawes, Buckingham, and Henry Bartholomew hunted together, but they were on the river with Becker shotguns at the same time and nearly the same place for sure.
