doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ithaca Crass

This is probably a pretty common question - A shotgun that my grandfather (died 1948) owned has been in my care all these years. I began looking into the gun's history and it looks like an Ithaca Crass. On the receiver under the barrels there is a '12'. Over the 12 is an 'A' and over the A is a '3'. Is this an indication of a 'Grade 3' gun?

See pic @ http://picasaweb.google.com/PeteLuckel/IthacaCrass#

My second question concerns the stock. The one that is on the gun is not the original. My intention is to fit a duplicate of the original Crass stock but I can't seem to find any pictures that show the configuration of the pistol grip and checkering. I have sent an email to Ithaca asking for photos or drawings but have had no response.

According to Walt Snyder's excellent book, "The Ithaca Gun Co-from the begining", your Grand Father's gun is indeed a Crass. The serial number indicates manufacture in 1892. Illustrations of Crass models show your gun matching a Grade3 engraving pattern.
Unfortunatly, I found no illustration of the stock design. Hopefully, Walt will be along with a more complete answer.

Ithaca has gone through about four ownerships since the 1970s, so the present company very likely knows little to nothing about your gun. Your best bet is to get Walter Snyder's book --

http://www.shotgunworld.com/ithacabooks.html

To have your gun properly restocked to match a Crass Quality 3 would be at least a $2000 proposition, likely more.

Here is a picture of my grade 3 Crass.

Let me know if you need more detail. Happy to help.

Great gun.

Thank you all for the info, and thank you very much kcordell for the pics. I was hoping that the Grade 3 had the scalloped checkering boarder but was surprised to see that it also has a grip cap. Some of the Crass pics show a rounded, uncapped pistol grip - probably different styles for different grades.

Curious myself and by no means an authority, I checked on gunbroker and found a grade 2 crass and it too has the grip cap and similar checkering.

This was listed for auction as a Crass (Serial# 593xx) without a listed grade.

http://picasaweb.google.com/PeteLuckel/CrassStock#