Fox Collectors

For those familiar with Nash Buckingham's friend John Bailey --
There is a horror story over on ShotgunWorld. Seems John's 1939 16-gauge Ithaca NID was in a fire and the family is looking to see if the gun is restorable.
https://www.shotgunworld.com/threads/19 ... st-5156343

Everytime I see something like this I feel like a piece of history has been lost. I have thought a lot about such things after the significant hurricanes and wild fires over the last several years. Always most concerned about human limb and life but wonder in the back of my mind what history and family heirlooms have been lost forever. A friend of mine had a fire destroy part of his home many years ago. He lost several guns that belonged to his Dad and Grandfather. Made him sick for losing those family keepsakes!

I was looking at a picture of John Bailey's Ithaca yesterday. It looks like a Grade 4. However, I'm not up on mid grade Ithacas, could be a Grade 3. It was a beautiful gun. I wish I could remember where the picture was.

Pretty sure it is a No. 4E. The No. 1 and No. 3 last appeared in the 1934 Ithaca catalogs & price lists. The family said it was a 1939 gun and it doesn't have the cocking indicators which were also dropped along with the No. 1 and No. 3 between 1934 & 35.

That’s a shame, thanks for posting Dave.

By the appearance of the wood, the heat must not have been too high. It would be interesting to know more details on this gun, perhaps a Magnum if he was a friend of Nash’s? (Oops not likely that it is a Magnum since it is a 16)

Stan Hoover

John Bailey was a horseback riding, Mississippi quail hunter. See The Double Gun Journal, Volume Two, issue 4, pages 58 to 66.