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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 172
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 172 |
Pete,
It's the original case color, I have the Summer 2005 DGJ article on A.J. Aubrey & The Meriden Fire Arms Co., it mentions a "cyanide process with it's mottled coloring", look right to me with most of it left on this one. Can you confirm 1909 mfg. date? Very important, I'll explain.
Doug
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 1,344 Likes: 77
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2006
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I haven't received any PM's
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 13,883 Likes: 19 |
Pete, Any connection of AJ Aubrey to the Crescent guns? That action looks very much like a Crescent.
Regards Chuck
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,912 Likes: 215
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,912 Likes: 215 |
Not trying to highjack the thread but was asked about an Aubrey recently and I had little (next to none!) info to offer to the fellow other than some history I could remember from some previous postings here.
Is there any way to ascertain the grade of the gun from the engraving decription?
He said his 12ga SxS has a pointer on both lock plates and a goose on the bottom. Some scroll engraving to compliment it from the sounds of his description.
He said there was a 'D3' on the table but didn't recall any other markings there other than the ser# and he didn't have that memorized.
I'll hazard a guess that the D3 is actually a D30 for Damascus 30" from reading the website info. He did say it had 'damascus' barrels, though that would be his description of anything composition. He said it had a burl walnut stock also.
I will try to get more info from him on the gun re: markings, #, Bbl length, etc.
Great info on the Damascus-Barrels.com site and a very nice Aubrey to start this thread!
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598 |
Chuck,
That is an interesting bit I have been gnawing on for some time. Joe Vorisek wrote that he believed Richard Sears had a strong dislike for the Crescent folks. Joe felt that Sears was out to sink some ships in the gun trade. Unfortunately those are hard points to prove either way.
The workings of the Aubrey are not the usual Crescent fair. The other issue I have surfaced is the Aubrey / Meriden hammer guns. There were two separate forgings used from the beginning. One rather pear shaped the other much more rounded. I did not notice this at first, so was not recording the information. The more pear shaped forging is a ringer for the Crescent. But with out some markings or factory records, there is only conjecture at this point.
Having said all the above, after AJ Aubrey left the company, the began to market a $250.00 gun as their top grade. The strange point is that it never was a catalog item. It was only offered in a separately published Meriden Firearms Catalog. Who received those catalogs and why not use the marketing power the Sears "Dream Book" still leaves me with questions.
An interesting side point. Sears apparently was buying in bulk. I know that during WWI some makers openly told their customers they could not acquire damascus tubes. Yet Sears never flinched and continued to provide. So did Sears purchase a large amount of Fyrberg's stock when they opened the Meriden factory? Then mingle the old stock with newly produced forgings and barrels? Yet Fyrberg never achieved the production levels of the Meriden plant. More questions than answers at this point.
Finally, Sears was producing a trade name gun of their own, the Berkshire. The question is who was marketing it for them? Perhaps Fred Biffar? If a set of Biffar catalogs ever surfaces, it may prove informative.
Pete
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598 |
I finally found an actual AJ Aubrey 20 year guaranty. These are shown in the catalogs, but this is the 1st I have seen. Apparently they were given to each owner. I have no record of gun #2124. How long they did this or if the certificate changed after AJ Aubrey left the company is still unclear.  Pete
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 172
Sidelock
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OP
Sidelock
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 172 |
Pete,
Very cool...
I'm glad to see you were the one to win that auction, couldn't have gone to a more appropriate owner..
Too bad our guns are 80 years "out of warranty" : )
Doug
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Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,598 |
Too bad our guns are 80 years "out of warranty" : ) You can always try to bring it back for repair work. I would love to see their faces.  Pete
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,912 Likes: 215
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,912 Likes: 215 |
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Joined: Dec 2001
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,457 Likes: 336 |
Kutter, that looks like a Grade 58 and I would guess there is a 58 on the watertable along with a D30 for Damascus 30". This was the highest catalog grade at the time. The mid sight on the rib is the Aubrey patent of 1907 as I remember. It allowed a mid sight to be raised or lowered by pressing on one end or the other.
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