That would likely be an early gun from the Wayne & Bristol Street days of the A.H. Fox Gun Co. -- 1905-06. The surviving records begin at serial number 9648. Dates on these earliest cards begin mid-1908.
The working hypothesis is that frames with serial numbers 1 to 3000 were made up originally and many were made into guns at Wayne & Bristol Streets. Some made the move to North 18th Street & Windrim Avenue in late 1906, It appears the next batch of frames started a 7000. Ansley probably wanted to make it appear he was doing better.
By the way Skeettx, that serial number chronology, originally produced by Lightner Library back in 1976, and available various places on the internet for free is worth exactly what you pay for it. In addition to their lack of understanding of the early years of graded 12-gauge guns there are all kinds of other problems with it.
For 16-gauge Fox-Sterlingworths they are showing production of 500 (1931), 600 (1932), 600 (1933), 700 (1934), 1100 (1935), 1500 (1936), 700 (1937) and then 1600 for 1938. Then the serial numbers from 374800 to 378481 are given for 1939 up to the last gun made 8/9/1939. I don't believe there is any way they all of a sudden pumped out 3681 16-gauge Fox-Sterlingworths in eight or nine months!!! From my 20 or so years of recording serial numbers of observed Sterlingworths, guns in the 375,xxx, 376,xxx, 377,xxx and 378,xxx range certainly exist.
On the 12-gauge Fox-Sterlingworths they estimate the highest serial number for 1937 as 145000, for 1938 as 150000 and for 1939 as 155000. Again from my years of observing and recording serial numbers, I haven't recorded a gun between 143815 and 160076, leading me to believe there were about 16000 serial numbers skipped. Perhaps the high 143xxx range was the end of regular production and the guns in the 160xxx and 161xxx range were cleanup of parts and barrels on hand?!? All of the guns I've recorded in that range are 26-inch barrels except one two-barrel set that also has a pair of 28-inch barrels.
Continuing on with some 12-gauge Sterlingworth observations, it appears Savage made different guns in different serial number blocks. All the guns I've observed from 132649 to 132927 are SP-framed guns. All the guns I've recorded in the 133xxx range are drawbolt frame guns. The only guns observed in the 134xxx range are the Fox-Sterlingworth Wildfowls from 134102 to 134130. John Callahan's search of the records for Frank Srebro's The Double Gun Journal article on the Wildfowls, Volume Twenty-Six, Issue 4, shows surviving cards in this block up to 134142. I've recorded no other guns in the 134xxx range. In the 135xxx range the guns I've recorded are all in the 1356xx and 1357xx range and four of those five are 28-inch barrel Fox-Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game Guns. Again guns in the 1379xx and 1380xx range are SP-frame guns. All the guns I've recorded in the 143xxx range are drawbolt frame guns. Then we jump to the 160xxx range and the guns I've recorded up to 160434 are 26-inch barrel Fox-Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game Guns. Then another batch in the 1607xx and low 1608xx range. The 161xxx range is a mix of regular frames, then SP-frames and ends with drawbolt frames.
Like the 12-gauges, there is a gap in the observed 20-gauge Sterlingworth serial numbers from guns in the mid-266xxx serial number range, observed specimens jump to the 270xxx range. A gap in serial numbers of about 3500 guns.
Last edited by Researcher; 02/20/21 08:07 PM.
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