I recently saw a list with the heading "Grades and Cost of American Quality Hammerless Double Shotguns" and now that I want a hard copy I can not find the web site. Your help would be appreciated.

jlb

p. 544-545 of John Houchins' L.C. Smith "The Legend Lives" has a price and grade comparison for Smith and Parker guns 1888-1941.
p. 546 has a grade comparison for Smith, Parker, Lefever, Fox, Ithaca and Baker guns.

Probably should not scan and post unless someone can find other sources for the comparisons. I did not find the list on the LCSCA site and did not check the PGCA site.

I believe it is a 1972 American Rifleman article by Don Hardin that contains a chart of 8 or so makers and their corresponding grades.

How about this one from The Lefever Arms Collectors Association newsletter. It was put together by Don Hardin, Daryl Hallquist, and myself. If you would like it as a file that you can print email me at laca@hughes.net

Dr. Bob, thanks for posting the list. It is the one I had in mind.

thanks again!

jlb

This might be of interest also. Easy to compare grades with the retail cost
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1OTND2bQH0vhlbCf7c2sN8H1vzmT7xagUSXhewGB03SE

Dr Bob: I'd like to add your schematic to the document, with an attribution of course.

It should be noted that the Smith - Parker comparisons in Houchins represent catalog MSRP; not the usual purchase price

The price lists shown for Lefever are also factory list prices. I have seen at least the lower grades listed in other catalogs at reduced prices. The E grade should be on the $100.00 line, appears it was inadvertently omitted.
ther thing to keep in mind is the list price of Lefevers stayed the same per grade over the life of the company. Over time engraving etc was up-graded & new lower grade added rather than dropping prices. Most of the other companies prices varied according to the time period it was purchased.

That chart is full of bad information. The 00-grade L.C. Smith was a $25 gun. It was a $50 gun with ejectors, an 00E-Grade. Many companies from the 1890s to WW-I showed a high "List Price" in their catalogues, but the guns actually had a much lower "Net selling price." The Remington K-Grade early on had a List Price of $35 but a Net Selling Price of $25. Same with A.H. Fox Gun Co.'s Sterlingworth, List Price $35 and Net Selling Price $25. From the 1911 A.H. Fox Gun Co. catalogue --



Likewise the Lefever DS-Grade was catalogued at $37 but is shown in magazine ads as a $25 gun.

The country entered into a steep inflationary spiral in the lead up to and during The Great War. For 1916 the price of the Sterlingworth went up to $30 and for 1917 to $37.50. By early 1919 a Sterlingworth was $47.75 and by late 1919 it was up to $55 where it stayed into 1922. The chart lists a Sterlingworth Deluxe in the $40 bracket and the colume is headed 1916 to 1929, when there was no such thing. The Sterlingworth Deluxe was introduced by Savage Arms Corp. in 1930.

The HE-Grade Super-Fox is listed in the $50 bracket. When first introduced in 1923, it was priced at $125, but quickly dropped to $100. For 1925 the price dropped again to $85, and by 1927 had dropped to $79.60 where it stayed until Savage dropped the price to $66.50 in 1930. Savage upped the price to $72 in June 1932.

The date under Remington is 1912, and they had been out of the double gun business for two years by then.

I could go on and on. I know how hard it is to do a comparison like this, as I tried in my Baltimore Arms Co. article in The Double Gun Journal.

I know this would be a reasonable amount of work but one could take advantage of the attributes of Excel and create a page that lists all models and grades, a master list if you will.

Then, make multiple copies, say every 5 years or two years or every year if one was so motivated. Edit each page for the models available for that time period and enter the appropriate prices (net selling price) for that year.

Then you wouldn't be comparing models available in 1900 at 1910 prices with models from 1923.

But it's a lot of work I'm sure, not a simple thing to publish or post for viewing, but it would be accurate in representing the choice a buyer had at whatever given point in time.

I agree that chart is a little simplistic but is a good starting point if someone would like to expand it.

Along side that chart I would like to see a comparison of ammunition.

The average income of individuals compared to the price of a box of shells. That could be eye opening.