Fox 126 A

[Garrett]

My great grandfather's shotgun was passed down to me. He was supposedly the original purchaser. Anyone know how much it may be worth? Wife and I are trying to decide if we should insure it since it has such an early serial number.

[jolly bill]

A very nice, very early A grade 12 gauge. What is the barrel length?

Some more close up pictures of the receiver, both sides and bottom, would be nice. And the stock and butt plate.

And wonderful if it was your great grandfather's gun and if he purchased it new, that would have been around 1905 or '06.

Value would depend on several factor's but mostly its original condition and if it has no sins, ie, chips or cracks in the wood, solid uncut barrels, etc. $500 - $1500.

I would be tickled pink if I had my great grandfathers Fox.

Jolly

[Garrett]

Actually doing the math, I think it may be my great great grandfathers if this was purchased around 1905. There are small dents in the stock, I haven't cleaned it since I received it because I was worried I would remove value. But if its only worth around $1000, I'll start hunting with it like all of my family did. Oh and the barrel length is just shy of 30 inches.

[Garrett]

Here are pictures of the stock

[Jeff S]

Wow! What a nice family heirloom. By all means, take it out into the woods and relive the hunts of your great, great, grandfather. Maybe someday you’ll find a picture of him with it. That would be really cool.

[jolly bill]

Wow! What a nice family heirloom. By all means, take it out into the woods and relive the hunts of your great, great, grandfather. Maybe someday you’ll find a picture of him with it. That would be really cool.

Garret,

Absolutely, just what Jeff says above, a great family heirloom that looks exactly as it came from the Fox factory 120 years ago but finish almost gone by being carried and hunted by your great, great grandfather and other family members. Good DNA on the gun that should remain.

Perfect screws, perfect metal to metal and wood to metal fit. Nice. Maybe just a little belly button lint on the bottom rib. Many of us like to see them that way.

Thanks for those additional pictures. And what part of the good old USA do you live if you care to answer?

You have a nice one. You're lucky.

Jolly

[DarylC]

Really great gun. Thanks for sharing. The early graded guns show such great crafsmanship with little embelishment. I'd hunt the dickens out of that one.

[Researcher]

Wonderful family heirloom from the first year of the A.H. Fox Gun Co. Very few Wayne & Bristol Street guns remain in such great all original condition with perfect unmolested screws. Here is the A-Grade from the first A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalog --

The downside is that the marketplace has more entry-level 12-gauge vintage doubles then there are shooters looking for them, hence they don't draw the big bucks. There is a long thread on this subject over on the Parker Gun Collectors Association forum. https://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44755

Be advised that when it comes to hunting with these vintage doubles you can't use steel shot. These guns require lead or the softer non-toxic shot. Would hate to see any damage done to such a well-preserved example from the A.H. Fox Gun Co.'s first year.

[Garrett]

I appreciate all the responses! We are in north west Texas, debating a move for some more humidity. I'll keep the ammo in mind and I will go ahead and finally clean her up. I may just let this one sit and pick up a different double to shoot the tar out of. From all the other guns ive seen, this one seems to be in pretty decent condition considering how much my great grandparents+ had shot it. They used to shoot clays most weekends according to rumors.

[NJdblgun]

Very nice walnut on your family heirloom. I just posted S/N 154 A for sale in the Members Only sectioned for $1500. Asking a premium is due to the gun being pictured in the Ken McIntosh book. Also, it came from the collection of renowned collector Robert "Bill" Harris. So, the provenance adds to the value, IMHO.
PS you want more humidity?!

[Researcher]

I just posted S/N 154 A for sale in the Members Only sectioned for $1500. Asking a premium is due to the gun being pictured in the Ken McIntosh book.

I think you mean Michael McIntosh, bottom of page 93.

[Garrett]

Very nice walnut on your family heirloom. I just posted S/N 154 A for sale in the Members Only sectioned for $1500. Asking a premium is due to the gun being pictured in the Ken McIntosh book. Also, it came from the collection of renowned collector Robert "Bill" Harris. So, the provenance adds to the value, IMHO.
PS you want more humidity?!

Oh yea, 0-10% humidity gets old. Rarely rains, too much dry wind. The nose bleeds from it being so dry is what's pushing me to agree with the wife on a move.