This year there will be a distinguished guest speaker for the Virginia Vintagers' Reception which will take place at The Flame Steak House in Sanford, NC on Friday night, the 27th of April, 2012. The speaker will be Walter C. Snyder, the renowned shotgun expert who wrote the seminal text, The Ithaca Gun Company - from the Beginning. Walter is an engineer by training, a life long side-by-side enthusiast and an avid Ithaca collector.
It has long occurred to me that a cogent argument can be made for the proposition that the Ithaca Flues was the premiere boxlock shotgun of all time. The simplicity of the mechanical design was a stroke of genius. Certainly the Ithaca Flues continues to hold the record for the fastest lock time. Aesthetically Ithaca side-by-sides external design provided much surface for engraving. The art nouveau acanthus leaves depicted on Ithaca Flues 1.5 grades early in the 20th century are my personal all time favorites.
It should be a treat to hear Walter Snyder at the Virginia Vintagers event on Friday.
J.K.B. von Falkenhorst
