Fox DE live bird gun

[cook-winston]

Found the case for serial 17090 The leg of mutton case has a brass name plate which says Louis H. Eisenlohr Opinions??

[fox-admin]

Louis H. Eisenlohr was one of the original Directors of the AH Fox Gun Co. Two other Eisenlohr guns are known, one came to light within the last month. The two know Eisenlohr's have his signature in gold on the trigger guard. Here is #35

[bbman3]

What A GUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Researcher]

The Eisenlohr brothers (Otto H., Charles J., Louis H., and August C.) were primarily in the cigar business in Philadelphia, their firm being Otto H. Eisenlohr & Bros. at 940 Market. When the A.H. Fox Gun Co. reincorporated in Pennsylvania on September 21, 1907, Louis H. Eisenlohr is listed in the filing as one of the directors. The A.H. Fox Gun Co. was originally incorporated in New Jersey on April 6, 1905, and reincorporated in New Jersey March 15, 1907. Getting details of old New Jersey incorporations has proved to be near impossible. At any rate, 12-gauge Ansley H. Fox shotgun serial number 35 has Louis H. Eisenlohr's signature in gold on the trigger guard (The Double Gun Journal, Volume Twelve, Issue 1, page 92), and recently a 16-gauge with Louis's signature in gold on the guard has surfaced.

Louis H. Eisenlohr and his brothers were in the cigar business and nothing else is listed in either the Philadelphia City Directories or the U.S. Census. I had to work sort of backward and around from the side with the census as in both 1900 and 1910 they did not index single people. Otto was born in 1850 and in the 1900 census he was listed as a cigar manufacturer. He had a wife Josephine 39, and a daughter Edith 14. Also had his wife’s father, Max Mayer 77 and a servant living in their home. From the 1920 Census I got that Charles was divorced, and in the 1900 Census I find Charles Eisenlohr Jr. and his mother Nellie living in Philadelphia, with her parents Charles and Annie O’neill. By the 1910 Census Charles Jr. was living with his grandmother in Lebanon, PA.

In the 1910 Census Otto is listed as “Cigars Imp.” By 1910 Edith was no longer at home, and Max Mayer now 86 was listed as a boarder. In 1910 they have a cook, a butler and a servant. Both Otto and August disappear from the city directories between 1911 and 1915.

In the 1920 census I found the household of Louis H Eisenlohr, 60, single, Charles J. Eisenlohr, 55, divorced, and Marie Eisenlohr, 63, single, the sister. They were listed as in the trade of manufacturing and the industry of Cigars. They were living large with a butler and two servants. So, Louis must have been about 46 years old when old #35 was built in 1906.

I did a search on the web and found six Eisenlohr listings in Pennsylvania, four in Philadelphia and two elsewhere, but three of the listings were for Laurence or Laurence C., so there may be some duplication. There were 119 listings for Eisenlohr in the whole country. However, that Louis H. Eisenlohr was still single at 60 years old in 1920, I’d guess the only possible link would be through Charles Jr.

[fox-admin]

Another Director's gun that is similar to 17090 is the Barthmaier gun number 121 it sold for 13K at Julia's in the fall 2011

[mc15426378]

The dogs on # 35 and # 121 look to be engraved by the same hands. Any idea as to who did the engraving?

Mike

[Silvers]

Maybe Ansley picked up 17090 and dropped it off at Eisenlohr's place when he went out to get some good smokes? Is there any record of Louis Eisenlohr being a live bird shooter? This might be similar to guns that were consigned to W H Gough when he ran the Phila Shooting Academy and was probably getting guns for shooting students.

Interesting that neither of the Director guns pictured have an engraved or stamped Fox Proof/oval (or any proof for that matter) on the barrel flats.... I assume they were made up earlier than the Fox Proof logo was developed. And probably not in the regular factory production process. Silvers

[MARSHFELLOW]

When I owned #35 I did substantial research on LHE and didnt come across any reference to him shooting "at the rings". That certainly is not to imply that he didnt. FWIW.

ps- I put together those "accessories" pictured with #35....that boat picture was his first yacht. He had a much more grand yacht on order but never took delivery before he died.

tjw

[Researcher]

One could safely assume that #35 and #121 were both built at the Wayne & Bristol Streets address. There is no mention of the "Fox Proof" in any of the A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogues I've seen until the 1908 #21 "Campfire" catalogue.

Tom, did you ever check with Don Kaas to see if LHE's name appears in the registers of the Philadelphia Gun Club?

[cook-winston]

Was the gun that sold at auction : For A.H. Fox

[fox-admin]

Mike --We will never know who the consignee was since records do not exist for guns below about serial number 9800

[MARSHFELLOW]

No Dave, I didn't check with Don back then when I was looking ..... Probably a very good idea.

tjw