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Hello All. I am new to the forum here So I will first Introduce myself. My name is Ryan, I recently inherited a Fox C grade 12ga. shotgun that was purchased new buy my Great Grandfather. He was a collector of guns in his prime and I have been told that this gun was among his favorite. I was hoping to get an idea of the value of the gun (I plan to keep it in my family for future generations but have always been curious). Please forgive the pictures, they are all I have access to as I am still trying to figure out how to best ship them to me. I would greatly appreciate a rough appraisal. I was also curious as to whether this gun (under normal circumstances) would be safe to fire. I would love to take it to a range and put a few shells through it if it would stand up to the use without damaging the gun or myself.
Again, I believe this is a very early C grade ( C 1771 is the number on the gun) and it has probably only been fired a half a dozen times and is in nearly mint condition:
Picture of the whole gun, the one above is another antique I was fortunate enough to inherit, I know virtually nothing about it though
Wow Ryan: You've got a wonderful family heirloom there. A "C" Grade is the third step up in graded Fox Guns. I assume that it is a 12 gauge and the barrells are marked either "Chromox" or "Krupp" Steel. If the bores are anything like the exterior of your gun I would not be afraid to put any low brass shells (however RST would be best) through her. Have a good gunsmith check her over prior to firing and join the AHFCA for a lot of good info. The order a research letter from them. It will give you a lot of background on your prize. A ballpark figure if it is a 12 gauge would be $4-$6 Thousand IMHO.
Best Regards, George
BTW: The long rifle don't look bad either.
"Therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee"......John Donne
Nice guns including the long rifle. On the C grade, I have a question for the experts.
I expected to see the early style "full scroll" engraving without the birds on the side panels...... I once owned a C grade #234x with the full scroll treatment. Sure, I know that Foxes weren't necessarily shipped in serial number order, but if that s/n 1771 is correct - is this the earliest bird panel engraved C grade we've seen? Silvers
Congrats on what appears to be a very nice early Fox shotgun. For anyone to give you an accurate appraisal they would need the gun in hand but it sure looks darn good from the couple of pix. Nice to see them like that.
tjw
IN GOD WE TRUST. SPE Skeet & Uplands and AH Fox vent rib guns a specialty
I don't believe there is such a thing as "original Fox snap caps". Someone gave me a pair in 12-gauge and a pair in 20-gauge many years ago for Christmas. I believe the company's position was you didn't need such things. I had a letter from Savage to the original owner of a 20-gauge Fox-Sterlingworth that said that. I passed that gun and its provenance on to another.
Ryan,
Sorry if this is taking the conversation away from your wonderful C-Grade. Let us know what part of the country you are in and perhaps we can recommend someone to take a look at your C-Grade. If you are in the New England area, bring it to The Vintage Cup at Addieville Farm in Rhode Island 27-30 September.
Researcher wrote:I don't believe there is such a thing as "original Fox snap caps". Someone gave me a pair in 12-gauge and a pair in 20-gauge many years ago for Christmas. I believe the company's position was you didn't need such things. I had a letter from Savage to the original owner of a 20-gauge Fox-Sterlingworth that said that. I passed that gun and its provenance on to another.
Ryan,
Sorry if this is taking the conversation away from your wonderful C-Grade. Let us know what part of the country you are in and perhaps we can recommend someone to take a look at your C-Grade. If you are in the New England area, bring it to The Vintage Cup at Addieville Farm in Rhode Island 27-30 September.
Dave
Or to the Southern at Sanford, NC on the 27th - 29th of this month (April).....Best Regards, George
"Therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee"......John Donne
I am way out in Oregon so if you have any recommendations in the NW that would be terrific. I have already gotten some great feedback from you folks so I can't thank you all enough.
The anticipation of having the gun shipped has been overwhelming and I cannot wait to get my hands on it again.
It is nice to find another Fox lover in the Pacific Northwest. I love to see nice guns turn up out west. It seems like the East coast boys have most of them tied up. Thanks to Dave for the nice pictures of his banner gun.
John
Taking guns to and picking guns up from Keith is always a great trip. So many great parks and monuments to visit there in Central Oregon -- Newberry Crater National Volcanic Monument, The High Desert Museum, Crater Lake National Park on to the south, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument off to the east, on and on!!
