Fox Collectors

Check out Julia web site he is offering the famous Louis Eisenlohr C grade for sale at the October auction. This engraving pattern is my favorite. Anybody no who is consigning the gun? Bill Headrich? I didn't realize it is a two barrel set. Researcher what do you know about this gun beyond what is in Mike's book?

I did an article on that gun in The Double Gun Journal. Subsequent to the publication of the Fox book, one of our own realized he owned the second set of barrels for that gun. He contacted Mike who put him in touch with the owner, and a deal was made to reunite the pieces. With the death of "Pop" Headrick, I believe #35 left Missouri.

With much correspondence and a lot of suspicion on the part of the buyers, I was able to place the second set of barrels for #35 in the hands of the gun's owners, and finally, together with the gun. It was a struggle, but the end result was a nice two barrel set. Is the auction catalog on the net at this time? If Dave's excellent DGJ article doesn't clear up the story about the gun, feel free to contact me. I will tell the rest of the story. I can't see myself bidding on this gun.

Here are the images from Julia's web site. Bill/Dave what is the condition of the gun? Has it been refinished? The stock looked refinished to me in Mike's book. Is there any case color on the gun? Any estimates of the selling price?? Bill, how did you ever come across the second set of barrels in the first place? How did they ever get separated?


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I'd say the wood has been refinished. Case colors might be 20-30%. As I remember the story, the set of barrels were found in the attic of a house that was being torn down in central Pennsylvania. From my research Louis' brother divorced from his wife and the wife and child moved to the area near where the barrels were found. Louis and his sister and divorced brother lived together in Philadelphia. They were all involved with their married brother Otto in the Otto Eisenlohr & Brothers cigar store business in Philadelphia. I have never found any listings for Louis in old shoot reports of the day. Maybe Louis left/gave the gun to his nephew.

I don't mean to be secretive, but I will wait until the auction catalog is released to either agree or disagree with the information published. Although Dave and I are friends and previously almost neighbors, he did not consult with me concerning the history of the outing of the barrels before writing the article on Fox #35. I don't know who the owner is, but Dave's comments seem to imply that it is not Mr. Headrick.

Dave's post gives the impression Louis Eisenlohr (1860-1922) and his brothers Charles and Otto ran a cigar store. Actually, they ran Continental Cigar Co. the 2nd largest producers of cigars in the US at the time and this was a time when most Americn men smoked cigars. They were quite wealthy. Louis never married but was well known as a yachtsman and apparently one of Ansley Fox's many victims...er, investors .

I recently owned #35 and found alot of info on Mr. Eisenlohr. I was very very surprised to see it being listed at auction. Marshfellow

Marshfellow,

Did you shoot #35? Did you look inside it? I never had the opportunity to do either.

Don,

The listings I found in the old Philadelphia city directories in the 1900 to 1910 time frame listed something to the effect -- "Otto Eisenlohr & Brothers, Cigars, importers and manufacturers. " Did it become Continental Cigar Co. later?

Can we picture people with money ducking to the other side of the street when they saw Ansley Fox coming in Philadelphia??

Dave

I suspect that was the family holding company or Continental absorbed them at some point."CINCO" was the Eisenlohr's main brand but they had other brands and numerous factories in and around SE Pa including my hometown, Boyertown, PA. Louis' motor yacht was called "The Elf" and there was nothing elfin about it. His last boat was the "Mirimar" on which he died in 1922. It was built by Kyle & Purdy where (speaking of neat old guns) Max Fleischman also had a boat built. He also was a founder of the Wellwood Club, Cecil County MD duck club now a restaurant. He and his 2 brothers are buried in Laurel Hill in Phila. If you recall I sent you some Eisenlohr stuff a while back.

Researcher,

I regret to say that I never shot ol' #35...and I didnt go inside of it either. By the way, I did not consign it to auction....I was surprised to see the post this morning saying it was there. Marshfellow

I seem to recall I bought an enamaled Eisenlohr match case off ebay sometime back and gave it to the Headricks. I think you tipped me to it Don.

Dave Noreen is going to look good shooting that gun at PA pigeons. By the way, both sets of barrels are flyer choked unless some previous owner ground them out.

Does anyone have the DGJ issue date for Dave's article? Thanks

Dave’s article on #35 in DGJ is in Volume 12, Issue 1, page 92.
You should also check the info in McIntosh’s Fox book on this gun on pages: 20, 76, 95, 307-308 and 317.
Credit for finding this info goes to Marshfellow.