baker side by side

[glassman48]

I am hopefully going to look at this shotgun tomorrow. I was supposed to go today, but we had another blizzard up here in the "tropic zone". This gun was owned by one of my best friends dad, who passed away a couple of years ago. I told the guy selling them for my friend that I would like to come and look at a couple of these guns that he owned. I have a couple of trade items he might be interested in, so I will go and look. He thought it was a grade C, I posted this in the parker forum, and they think its a higher grade gun than that. The guy said it was a 98% gun, the parker forum guys thought barrel had been refinished. I will post some pictures. Trying to figure out how much the gun is worth.

[glassman48]

trying to put a couple pictures on, I have to downsize them so much you can hardly see anything.

[glassman48]

the gun is a 12 gauge with 28" barrels,

[Jim Cloninger]

G-man, i don't know anything about Baker S x S guns, but I don't think they were one of the major manufacturers back then.
Jim

[Researcher]

Oh Jim, they most certainly were.

http://bakercollectors.com/index.php?p= ... -F-Co-Guns

[Jim Cloninger]

Dave, how does a Baker compare to a Fox, Smith or Parker as an every day hunting shotgun in 2019? Jim

[Researcher]

Wouldn't be any different than a Parker or Remington or Lefever or Fox of the same vintage. Don't seem to crack nearly as many stocks as L.C. Smiths. Baker's certainly won their share of important shoots 120 years ago.

Just like the great bulk of Fox guns are Sterlingworths, the great bulk of the Baker guns ar their lower priced Batavia line -- Batavia Leader, Batavia Special, Batavia Damascus, etc.

The gun in question is rather confusing as it appears to have steel barrels but has the very early style locks with only the one pin appearing in the lock plates. Will be good when we find out the serial number of this gun and see some pictures of the barrel flats and watertable.

[glassman48]

resarcher,
I have asked to get serial number and pictures. Thanks for everyones help in here.

[glassman48]

I just got more pictures, serial number is 1996 the guy thinks its a 1st year production 1919. I will try to post the pictures he sent this morning.

[glassman48]

these are the 2 pictures he sent. Thanks for all the help.

[Researcher]

I have browsed through my Baker picture files and found a B-Grade listed as being serial number 1900, but no picture actually showing the serial number. here are a couple of comparison shots with the gun in question.

1900 B-Grade

1996

1900 B-Grade

1996

At this point in time I'm thinking 1996 has had its Twist barrels buffed and blued, and the C.GRADE stamping on the watertable was done at that time. Just my opinion based on the available evidence.

[glassman48]

thank you researcher, if it was originally a "B" grade, wouldn't that be stamped there originally? So you think it might of been a B grade at one time? Very interesting the guy that owned the gun was a gun builder, and a collector. Thank you for all your input.

[Researcher]

More often than not, especially in the early years, there is no grade stamp on Bakers.

Maybe this C.GRADE was made by the same person who did this --

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubb ... Post536027

[glassman48]

researcher,
I really appreciate all your efforts, your are a bank vault full of knowledge. Thank you. I am wondering what that would do for the value of this gun. Do you have an opinion. It is in very good overall condition. I think seller said 98%. I wish I knew a lot more, this is a gun owned by one of my best friends dad who passed away.

[Jeff S]

Researcher, thanks for referencing the Double Gun forum discussion regarding a Baker. The letter from 1957 was certainly entertaining.