R.R. I've looked at the pictures of that gun Jim and Jerry had several times I'd say there is more engraving work in it then the later all floral No. 1 1/2. Maybe more of a No. 2-.
Early on the Ithaca No. 1 had some engraving and twist barrels. Then in the later Crass years they added a No. 1 P that was plain and just had the name and dog roll-stamped on the sides of the frame. Then they thought there was a market for a lower priced Dmascus barrel gun and put Damascus barrels on this plain roll-stamped frame and called it a No. 1 1/2. Probably about this same time the No. 1 with engraving disappeared and what had been the No. 1 P became the No. 1. About the time the Lewis Model came into being steel barrels were entering the marketplace and the No. 1 Special with the plain frame and Cockerill Steel barrels was added to the line. Then toward the end of the Lewis era Ithaca added an even lower priced gun, the Field Grade with Smokeless Powder Steel barrels and a half-pistol grip. By this time the various No. 1 and 1 1/2 had a capped full pistol grip. I'm not sure when the No. 1 1/2 got the zig-zag border engraving, but it is there by the 1912/13 Flues Catalogue. As steel barrels became more popular these various low-price Ithacas got steel barrel options. When WW-I cut off the supply of composite barrel tubes all these minutely different qualities became redundent, and during 1919 Ithaca consolidated the No. 1 and the No. 1 1/2 as the new No. 1 with the bold floral engraving that the No. 1 1/2 had gotten in mid-1915. Also, at that time the Field Grade got a capped full pistol grip. Is that all confusing enough? It get worse. The boys down on the factory floor continued to use up frames that had already been stamped with the S for the No. 1 Special to build guns that now matched the catalogue description of the Field Grade.
Last edited by Researcher; 11/30/09 10:00 PM.
