Nothing surprising from The Rock Island Auction

[fox-admin]

I was most interested in what the HE's would bring. Lot 1502 the HE/XE with a Monte Carlo stock sold for $11750., Lot 1506 the HE 12ga restored sold for $8225., Lot 3521 the HE 20ga restored sold for $12925. Nothing surprising given the condition of the Fox guns.

[ROMAC]

Did that include the juice/auction % ?

[fox-admin]

Yes

[ROMAC]

Thanks.

[Foxnut]

Craig,
While I’m probably not as dialed in as you on the HE prices I’d agree that none of them surprised me. I like the HE/XE w/Monte Carlo stock!

[vaturkey]

A well known Fox dealer speculating that the HE 20 would be worth 25K. I thought that was rather optimistic. The hammer price indicated that was indeed optimistic.

The HE with XE engraving was a very interesting gun. Pretty darn neat.

[Stan Hillis]

I'd love to see a pic or two of the Monte Carlo stocked HE. When I bought my HE from a fellow Fox member and collector/shooter it came with the original buttstock on it, but also with a MC buttstock that had some age to it and was numbered to the gun. The HE is a Philly gun but we both suspect the MC stock and been made by Savage for the gun, at a later time. It would be nice to compare the style of it with that of the HE/XE.

[vaturkey]

I'd love to see a pic or two of the Monte Carlo stocked HE. When I bought my HE from a fellow Fox member and collector/shooter it came with the original buttstock on it, but also with a MC buttstock that had some age to it and was numbered to the gun. The HE is a Philly gun but we both suspect the MC stock and been made by Savage for the gun, at a later time. It would be nice to compare the style of it with that of the HE/XE.

Here are two pics from the auction.

[vaturkey]

And the letter that came with it:

[Stan Hillis]

Wow. That's a pretty radical Monte Carlo. Mine's not nearly as "pronounced" as that one is. I've never put it on the gun, as I shoot it very well with the original stock.

Thanks for posting those pics, Tom. I appreciate it.

Stan

[Silvers]

Despite the MC comb, the angle at which the butt is cut for the pad is pretty severe relative to the plane of the top rib and thus the gun has a lot of "pitch". Maybe that's just a pic illusion but it doesn't seem so. Too much pitch is a watchout/bad for me as it is for most insofar as good shooting, though few fellas think about pitch or even care to know about it. I assume one of the past owners asked his 'smith to try compensating for the high comb line on this duck gun when he had that white line pad put on. High + low = neutral rationale ? Though with that pitch and 3-inch shells it would probably kick like a summbeech to use the vernacular.

I’ve made a fixture for my disc sander to recut the butt true when I come across a gun I want but it has too much pitch to shoot effectively. Nowadays I don’t have any “collector” guns gathering dust in my safe. Most everything gets shot and if I can’t shoot it well and it’s too valuable to modify it goes back into the flow of commerce. That’s just me. frank

[Jeff S]

I’m surprised the letter states shipped “1913”. That seems early for an HE. Did I miss something?

[vaturkey]

I’m surprised the letter states shipped “1913”. That seems early for an HE. Did I miss something?

Wonder if that is a typo on the letter Jeff. Reason I say that is Becker didn't even start working at Fox until 1915 per MM's book. My guess the date is 1923.

[Stan Hoover]

I did follow the bidding on this gun, was more a wish item than anything real serious.

Did anyone personally inspect this gun?? My main concern was the wording about welding having been done on the barrel lugs and trigger guard. Did that mean the fore end lug had left go at some point?

I thought of requesting pics of that area but then left it go.

Stan

[loggy]

A pair of hard to find guns for sure!