Well, this is a neat thread and I thought I'd share my story since I found and still own my Savage "Holy Grail".
I'm fairly new to this site and have enjoyed reading older posts in my free time to get me up to speed on some of the topics that I find interesting. Just about two years ago I walked into a small gun shop and walked out with a Savage 1899 A that was manufactured in 1901 with an interesting stick of wood to say the least. I have been told that it is one of only a few that were ever factory produced in bird's eye maple and that it may be the only one that was in "honey blonde" instead of a more "caramel" color. So far only two have surfaced and been documented (one of each). There may be others, but who knows.
The story is below as I told it on the Savage collectors site.
"So, back in December I got lucky and walked into an small shop and got a really good deal on an original configuration 1899 A with a unique Bird's Eye Maple Stock. I got a lot of help here and have spent the last few months trying to piece together what I could to learn about its' history. I said at the time I would report what I learned when I was done, so here it is.
Below is the gun, it has a 26 inch round barrel with no rust or pitting, good case coloring on the lever, a plain shotgun type buttplate, and no crown. The wood is special order Birds Eye Maple and has a Schnabel forearm and straight grip stock with no checkering, it has period correct eyes for shoulder strap. The serial number is on the buttplate, forearm, stock heal, and receiver. The historian at Griffin & Howe says the front blade sight is German silver in the standard Rocky Mountain pattern, with the rear sight being in the Savage Rocky Mountain pattern Buckhorn type. Caliber is .303. There are no numbers on the cartridge counter.
Savage Completed the gun and it was accepted from the warehouse on June 26,1901. It was later sent to a show in Detroit in January of 1903. Savage Records call it the "Detroit Show". After the show it was sent back to Savage and was sold on March 16, 1903 to a New York City based sporting goods store called VonLengerke & Detmold. This is as far as John Callahan's letter, a copy of which is attached below, could take me. Further research showed that VonLengerke & Detmold was purchased by Abercrombie & Fitch before WWII and that after WWII, Griffin & Howe bought out Abercrombie & Fitch. I sent a letter to Griffin & Howe with pictures requesting information. I followed up with a call and the historian that they had the information I was looking for. For $50 I got the letter you see below as well as photo copies of the pages of the original ledgers from 1903 & 1904. From the records I learned the gun was on display at the store in Manhatten but did not sell in 1903 so it was rolled over into the inventory for 1904. On November 18,1904 the gun was sold to Malcolm Baxter for $25.00. The price included a $5.00 upcharge for the Birds Eye Maple stock. This was confirmed in the Ledger. It was a real relief to finally see the description of the wood in writing on this gun that is almost 107 years old. It confirms without a doubt that it is all original.
Census records that were included in the $50 research fee shows that Malcolm Baxter was born in 1868 and he was the Vice President of a Coal Company and that he lived within a few blocks of the store in Manhattan with his extended family.
The information I was able to get confirms what a lot of you guys said, that the gun is right, and in the original configuration that it was made in in 1901.
Many thanks to all those who helped me piece this together."
Roger
1899 A
VonLengerke & Detmold Ledger pages:
The line with mine is just below the X:
Savage Historian Letter
Griffin & Howe Letter
Census page with Malcolm Baxter and Family information.
