Fox Collectors

Well, just about 8 weeks to the day, my letter for the Fox Sterlingworth arrived in the mail today.

John reveals that the Sterlingworth, serial number 649xx, was shipped from Philly on March 17, 1913 to a O. C. Alderman with the following specs:

Grade: Sterlingworth Field
Gauge: 12 Ga
Barrells: 28", Choke Modified (R) & Full (L)
Stock: Walnut, 14" length of pull, 3" drop at heel
Weight: 6-3/4 to 7 lbs

Some photos: By the way...I suspect that the stock may have been replaced & some new engraving done about 30 years ago...thoughts?

Attached is John Callahan's letter
Perhaps to the vastly knowledgable, this doesn't say much, but to those of us that have not been involved in the Fox history for years, there is information here that I can trust and build on.

I know little about chokes, but when I showed the letter to my 90 year old Dad, he recollected that the chokes were as stated...yet I don't think he could have told me that before.

He recalled buying the Fox for $25 from a farmer in 1965 (interestingly the original purchase price), that the stock was cracked, and that the gun was brought to a gunsmith in western MA. This gentleman obviously had some talent, checkering the forearm with a broken file - his preferred tool. He also had a fine piece of Circassian Walnut which he used for a new stock and gave my Dad the rest of the walnut, which I still have, now well over 100 years old, air dried & ready for another Fox rebuild.

Mr. Callahan struggles in his letter to say something special about the Sterlingworth line of shotguns, no gold inlay or special carvings, but still a piece of craftsmanship and value when compared to today's selection, based on my limited experience to date.

The $30 cost for the Callahan letter was well worth the price in my humble opinion, just to see the smile and recollection of some fine days in the field on my father's face, if not for the information it provides me moving forward.

Steve

Sounds to me like your Callahan letter is almost priceless simply for the fact that it allowed you to jog your fathers memory about the gun. My suggestion is to not change a thing on the gun. Enjoy it for what it is, a great link to your father and the family stories it holds. I for one wish my guns could talk and tell me their life story, like the one you know on your Sterlingworth.

Happy Hunting!

Dogfox wrote:...and was shipped to the Tom Dick & harry hardware store in east Podunk. The last 2 parts of all sterlie letters are copied from one to the other and all of them say the same things. The chokes and barrel length can easily be checked otherwise and I think spending $30 in part for a Skeet's bore gage as written on another subject is the better buy. At most, buyer of a Sterlie from a store or on line will leern where it was shipped to and imho I think that isnt that important.

I would pretty much have to agree, and on later guns you don't even get that ! Unless I had a specific question (barrels cut, chokes altered, custom options that might/might not be factory, for example) I probably wouldn't spend the money. I got a letter on my first Sterlingworth which basically told me nothing; didn't bother on the last two. Not talking about Melix's situation, of course.

In my experience, over the course of a collecting/accumulating career, about a third of the Fox guns one gets a letter on, will find them being shipped across town to E.K. Tryon. Tryon must have been the jobber for more Fox guns then any other jobber in North America. Even guns with very detailed orders are found shipped to E.K. Tryon. The dealer took Joe Nimrod's detailed order, sent it to his jobber, who in turn sent it to AHFGCo. In 1925, the jobber paid AHFGCo. $124 for an XE-Grade, the dealer then paid the jobber $159.70 for it and Joe Nimrod paid the dealer $185 for it.

I would suppose that the letter might be very important to a person closely related to O.C. Alderman. It could make a gun pretty valuable to family members if the gun found new ownership and someone wanted it back. What a great name for a 'grouse hunter'. Of course, he may have just owned one of many hardware stores and sold it off to the first customer.
Never know what you might find on a letter.
Though I'm not big on beavertails, I'd agree with Dave, the forearm looks well done, very nice. Can't really see the work on the cheeks.