Fox-Kautzky SST and Beavertail forend options

[bamboozler]

It's the Roaring 20s and you're a prospective buyer of a brand new A.H. Fox 20-ga. A-Grade with ejectors. Back in the day a Fox-Kautzky single selective trigger option would set you back about $30. A beavertail forend would cost you another $12 or so. The cost of those two options was close to half the price of a whole 'nuther gun, so you settled for a standard 20-ga. AE with splinter forend and double triggers, but you still got to select the full-pistol grip you wanted at no extra cost. If you only would have splurged back in the day and treated yourself to the single trigger and BT options, what do you suppose they would have added to your used gun's value in today's money?

[2lo8s]

I can't speak to the single trigger but If the percentage of the original cost was about 1/8 (12.5%) for a BTFE,
I'd guess the premium paid today is at least equal that if not more.
Or to put it into monetary terms, LOTS!

[Researcher]

The A.H. Fox Gun Co. never catalogued a beavertail forearm or a ventilated rib for their doubles during the roaring 20s. Prices were high at the start of that decade, after the inflation of The Great War. On the February 1st, 1920, price list the A-Grade was $68.25, the AE-Grade was $80.75, and the Fox-Kautzky Single Selective Trigger was $31 extra. On the January 1st, 1921, price list things were the same. The January 1st, 1922, price list dropped prices. The A-Grade was $62.00, the AE-Grade $74.50 and the Fox-Kautzky Single Selective Trigger was still $31 extra. That is where they stayed through 1925. The March 1st, 1926, price list showed a steep price reduction. The A-Grade was now $52.50, the AE-Grade $64.50 and the Fox-Kautzky Single Selective Trigger dropped to $28.90. These prices stayed the same through the last A.H. Fox Gun Co. price list January 1st, 1929, and the first three Savage price lists through January 25th, 1932. Beginning with the January 15, 1931, price list Savage began offering a ventilated rib for $30 and a beavertail for $13.50 on the A- or AE-Grade.

Philadelphia era beavertails do exist, but I've never seen any information as to how much the A.H. Fox Gun Co. charged for them. I'd been fiddling with Ansley H. Fox doubles for a good forty years before I saw my first righteous Philadelphia era beavertail forearm.

For the June 21st, 1932, price list the Fox-Kautzky Single Selective trigger went up in price to $31.50. By the March 15, 1933, price list Savage dropped the price to $23 and by the February 20, 1935, price list to $21. Leads me to think the Savage engineers did some modifications. Maybe someone who goes inside these old doubles could shed some light on this.

As a "collector's item, those options have value, but a straight grip, double triggers and slim forearm work just fine for me. Today, I'd pay more of a premium to an original straight grip, which cost nothing extra back in the day!! The last Fox I got with the Fox-Kautzky Single Selective Trigger, got converted to double triggers. The other three I've had worked fine.