B. Dudley,
Your point is well made, which is why he's kicked up such a fuss on multiple forums. When at first he just seemed to be happy but confused, people genuinely stepped forward to offer help. But this guy...it's as if he doesn't WANT to know the truth of it. And as others have suggested, it's as if he's threading a narrative for a future sale of this backyard-engraved hardware store gun.
His reading comprehension just doesn't seem to be good enough to distinguish between (a) Syracuse sideplate Lefevers, (b) post-1916 sideplate Lefevers assembled by Ithaca from parts (so-called "transition" guns, to use his term), and (c) Ithaca's original 1921-introduced Nitro Special, which has no relation to A & B in terms of either design or heritage.
Poor Dan...the man second only to John Browning in terms of patents...bears the indignity of having his name stamped on Ithaca's 'farm tools.'
Sooner or later somebody is going to see one of these threads and pipe-in, "Yeah, my Dad sold that gun at such-and-such gun show. His brother did the engraving in exchange for two used car tires and a box of smokes."
"$1,000 grade" Lefever indeed. That 'whittled' Nitro is more like "$250 grade"...in 2017.
Nudge
