Fox SPE 20g - Did you get it???

[Obsessed with Doubles]

Did anyone here get the SPE 20g that was auctioned off this afternoon?

I was the under bidder on it. Darn!

Oh well.

I have some pics of it that I would like to add to the site's library. Who should I send them to?

Thanks

OWD

[Scott]

I got it. Were you at the auction?
Scott

[Obsessed with Doubles]

No, I wasn't there. I left a bid on it.

I also did on the Browning 20g and the Francotte.

I missed both of those, too.

Congrats on your new gun.

OWD

[Brian]

lets have the details,
photos, specs, price etc.

[Scott]

It is listed in the Griffin and Howe web site I emailed them today and they have already responded back.
Your Fox shotgiun, S/N: 203xxx, was received by Abercrombie & Fitch on
July 24, 1934 and the model is listed as a "Special Skeet Ejector".
I have ordered the letter for it.
It has an English stock ,Beavertail forend, and selective single trigger.
I will post pics when I get it in hand.
I am a happy man!

[Scott]

This has been on of my list of "Holy Grail" guns for a long time.
I was very lucky to get this one!

[fox-admin]

Scott: Very Very Nice!!! Looks like very nice quality. Thats the gun Tony should have made instead of the RBL in my opinion. Where was the auction?

[Researcher]

Sweet gun! Would look really nice next to my similarly configured 12-gauge SPE-Grade Skeet & Upland Game Gun. Interesting that it appears to have a butt plate. The retail catalogues all showed the SPE-Grade Skeet & Upland Game Guns standard with a bare wood checkered butt and with the option of a recoil pad. The two I'm familiar with came with leather-faced recoil pads, though Headrick editted the pad out of his pictures in The Double Gun Journal, Volume Thirteen, Issue 2.

[fox-admin]

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe only about 20 of these guns were made in 20ga?? I think they are a "must have" variation for any Fox collection.

[Scott]

In the McIntosh book on page 292 there is a photo of one that states in the caption "fewer than 35 made in 20 bore".
I have a copy of the ledger page from Griffin & Howe and there are 6 listed Three 12's a 16 and two 20's
I tallked with Marshfellow today at the Syracuse show and he has a list of 10 that he has seen in all gauges. I think all had recoil pads or Buttplates.
None Checkered
One thing for sure is that they are a joy to handle!

[Researcher]

I've seen one real roach of a 12-gauge SPE-Grade Skeet & Upland Game Gun, at the September Rochester show many years ago, with the checkered butt. It was the first pistol grip SPE-Grade Skeet & Upland Game Gun I've seen as well. My notes list it as serial number 35026.

The 16-gauge that was at Las Vegas in January 2007 was 303459 and my notes list it as a straight grip with a pad.

[Researcher]

I just thumbed through the photocopies I have of Roe's compilations and the first SPE Skeet I find is 203670. It and 71 were shipped 20 July 1934. There are five more in that batch and their ship dates range from 1935 to 1944. I count a total of 22 20-gauge SP-/SPE Skeets but Roe's scratchings are not easy to read. Two were SP- and the other 20 SPE-. I also find three SPR-grade 20-gauges in the notes.

[MARSHFELLOW]

It seems my notes that I shared have been misquoted. Butts were DEFINATELY checkered on some SPE SK&U guns....I believe I have three right now. I would check my records and give a breakdown but frankly Im exhausted from three days of gun show. Stand by....... Marshfellow

[teflon]

Scott: just wanted to let you know,what sweet little gun you have!They are all worth it..That looks to me like a quail buster,if one was so inclined to use it that way.Enjoy!

[MARSHFELLOW]

I finally had a chance to get some pix and records together on a few SPE Skeet and Upland guns in all gauges. While the factory records are a big help there are often times "holes" and/or contradictions. We need to keep in mind that the chaps that were scratchin' this stuff down in the records the best part of a hundred years ago had no idea how closely it was going to be scrutinized with our "forensic investigations". They were building & shipping guns...to hunt with...

I'll describe this sampling of 6 from left to right:

1) 20 ga....originally shipped in '36...record reads "air cushion pad,well rounded"

2) 20 ga...shipped 3/'36.........record lists stock dimensions, no mention of butt

3) 20ga....shipped 9/'36.........record lists stock dimensions, no mention of butt. This gun and the one above are consecutive serial numbers...kinda neat one full PG and one straight.

4) 16ga....shipped '41.....notes on card give dimensions and read "fit stock & tip-regular" The gun has a conventional "flat" HRBP. This 16ga was built for the president of Savage/Fox...nearly new, without a doubt correct.

5) 16ga....shipped '36...3 more notations in records showing gun was returned back and forth till '38. Original record "checkered heel". Currently wears "widow's peak" HRBP.....my opinion a very correct factory job...

6) 12ga....shipped '34...notes read "Silvers-type recoil pad".

I could go on with another group of examples but my point is, as usual, the customer could get what he wanted....there are no absolutes. Definately the catalog description of the SPE S&U was the checkered butt as "standard".

I've seen two different checkering styles for the butt treatment...see next pic- these are the two consecutively numbered 20's-
[/img]

I thought it would be appropriate to show the forearms too -


Scott, thanks for bringing your great example of a sweet rare gun to the show for me to see....I get a kick out of every one of these rare rare guns. Congratulations! We read in McIntosh there were 34 twenties built...I hope to learn someday how many 16's were actually completed and sent out the door. Marshfellow