Fox Collectors

Picked this up last weekend.I’ve had a few 97’s before but they all went down the road. This one is a keeper tho. Dates to 1900,it’s a 16 gauge 1897 Trap Gun. Well used but still in decent shape with everything working like it should.I really fell for the straight grip and the wood is really nice. It also has the black diamond inserts in the grip.Only 5000 or so of this configuration were built out of almost one million 1897/97 shotguns.
PS….I,ve had issues posting pictures before but since the administrators went over the site recently everything worked perfectly.Good job,gentlemen.

Really neat and interesting old guns! When I sold off my brother's collection, he had 3 of these - 2 standard grades and a Black Diamond that had 2 barrels, the standard 32" Full trap barrel, and a 28" IC barrel. When I put them out during setup at our local gun show, they were the first guns to sell; the same dealer bought all of them, said he had something like 21 of them! Kevin

Very nice gun.

Very nice shotgun. A keeper for sure

Joe,
Great looking gun. Killer wood on that straight stock and a 16 gauge to boot!!!

Great find!! From a 1915 vintage Winchester shotgun brochure --
Plinky with her 1897 Trap Gun --
The original 16-gauge Model 1897s were made for the then standard 2 9/16-inch shell. The 16-gauge Model 97 was dropped from the Winchester catalogs through the mid- and late 1920s, then reappears in the 1931 Winchester catalog made for 2 3/4-inch shells.

It would be well worth the time to look up a few PlinkyTopperwein videos on YouTube. I did and man o man could that lady shoot! To say that her husband trusted her with his life is an understatement. Ad was no slouch either.

Does the pictured 16 gauge have the matted barrel top? There were two types of matting, round top and faceted. I have or have had 97 traps with and without checkering, with and without the matted barrel and an Ulrich engraved Pigeon Grade in the process of restoration. Ansley H. Fox shot a 97 when he shot for Winchester.

There is no matted rib on the gun.

love the black Diamond grades

love the black Dimond grades

No such thing. The "Black Diamond" was found on the Trap Grade and the Pigeon Grade as they were called in the Winchester catalogs though they engraved Gun on the breech bolts --
A couple examples of matted barrels --

Here's a cropped colorized print of Ansley H Fox who went straight with his 1897 Winchester at the Grand American Handicap held in April 1901 in NYC. From my original albumen photograph and, I believe, it’s the only original photo of AH extant. The young Ansley was shooting for Winchester at the time and all of the GAH straights are shown in the group picture. I'll probably put the original B&W photograph up for auction one of these days for those into Fox memorabilia. frank
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Researcher wrote: ↑Wed Oct 29, 2025 3:23 pm

love the black Dimond grades

No such thing. The "Black Diamond" was found on the Trap Grade and the Pigeon Grade as they were called in the Winchester catalogs though they engraved Gun on the breech bolts --

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A couple examples of matted barrels --

369212 07.jpg

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1912 came in a winchester case with black diamond grade on case.They must have been living.

1912 came in a winchester case with black diamond grade on case.They must have been living.

Where's the "Black"!! Time to get your eyes checked Allen. The canvas on that case says "Winchester Diamond Grade" as in a mid-1980s Model 101 from Olin-Kodensha.

I have seen and owned Tournament Grade Model 97s with black diamond stocks, also with matted barrels.