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
