"I've seen several of these and own two of them. Most of these atypical DS grades have all the characteristics of an H grade including Twist barrels. I have not seen any with Damascus barrels from higher grades than H. All that I've seen have the LAC monogram buttplate and a full pistol grip with a grip cap".
These barrels were definitely Damascus, not Twist; and, although tough to tell, a very nice Damascus barrel set that may have been "Chain" pattern. There was no engraving, only the maker's stamp on the side plates. The gun appeared to have American black walnut, no cap round knob grip, with splinter and LAC hard rubber butt-plate. Water table clearly stamped "DS"; and the gun was tight with what would work as good shootable dimensions for me.
"There are various theories about why these were assembled and sold as DS grades, but none makes much sense. Why stamp a higher grade gun with a lower grade stamp just to fill an order???"
Would make perfect sense if Ithaca's intent was to close out their remaining inventory of the old style Lefever double gun in advance of beginning to promote their low-end Ithaca "Lefever" leader model gun.
What is a gun like this worth?
