Got the matey for you boy's 30's NID, Dustin, (think it's '35) and I also was in for slightly under 1K$. (Did have a little bit of that all-important "condition" (residue of ephemera that the collectors desire). Anyone thinking of giving King Brown an Ithaca double and fearing rejection rest assured I will give your gun a home.

The "starting from scratch" hypothesis is interesting. Given American druthers in the same-old vs. startlingly new dept., you'd think the flirtation with "auteur" gunmaking would have appealed. Remington certainly liked "updates" and both makers were around in the 19th century so they must have had some success with the new model approach until the Depression truncated commercial expectations.

jack