doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com One Pricey CE Grade Fox 20 ga, Over 8K and running

Some of the small gauge Sterly up grades we see on the sites cost their owners more 1ike 13 - 15K as quoted by one of the hottest builders at the spring southern this year. 8 - 10K for original CE grade 20 is pretty good in comparison.

Doing the math, if one has the engraving at 3K and a restock at 3K and the wood at 1K and 2.5K for metal work (breechballs/safety/rebates/polishing/case coloring/rust blueing), then you are getting into the $9,500 range and that doesn't count the cost of the donor gun. Added another $1,500 or more a mechanically sound 20 gauge ejector Sterly (if you can find one that cheap) and you are at 11K. If you use the best fellows in the business to do all the work, you may or may not get your money back when you are dead and gone.

FWIW, the gun on Auction Arms needs a serious refurbishment IMO. Just a recut of all the engraving is probably $1,000 give or take. Then you add all the other stuff and a soup to nuts refurbishment might run 3K to do. It all adds up for sure.

I can not understand why anyone would consider re-furbishing that fox on gunauction. Looks like it needs a gentle clean up to me. Re-cut the engraving? You must be seeing something I am not.

SKB I think some people want any gun they spend 8-10K on to look nearly new. Some will be happy with just a simple cleanup but others won't. It's those owners who keep serious gunsmiths going and perhaps pulling out their hair a bit. People with guns which look to be high condition tend to be a little picky. I've known a couple who were an outright pain in the .... I am glad I never had to do a job for them.

As to the price it does not surprise me at all. While not the rarest Fox it is a very rare configuration you have to figure you won't see very often again if you pass it up. I think this is the third one I've seen or change hands in the last year or two. If they made more than 20 in this combination I'd be surprised. That's a decent percentage selling but they might be 20 years off the market now. How soon until the next one pops up for sale? Now if it were a 32" 20 CE you could see the big checkbooks being opened.

I don't know about where you guys shoot, but there isn't anyone below 50 shooting a SxS where I live. All these old guns will get back on the market sooner than you think.

Just by being a reader on this site anyone should be able to figure out there are caches of shotguns held by some pretty senior men. They gotta end up somewhere, sooner or later, and it's a constant lament about people's children having little or no interest.
So, I don't worry about seeing things a second time. Only when that will be.

i don't really expect to ever make much of a profit on my double-guns. However, I don't recall ever selling one without making a profit. I have made a few poor trades, but I ended up with what I wanted at the time.

My plan for disposition is my sons. The eldest is just 40 and I've made sure they have had the experience of shooting my doubles. I've also gifted sxs guns to them and they seem to enjoy the double-gun experience...Geo

Repairs are pricey enough but I've only gone the rehab/upgrade route once. I am presently having the original 32" barrels on an Elsie Specialty two barrel set sleeved by Aaron Little who posts here as GunMaker. It is not cheap and I do not expect to profit other than to have the gun I want. Worth it to me...Geo

I'm with SKB on this one.
The 10K question really is, "How bad will it sting when someone intimates that a Sterlingworth upgrade isn't really a graded Fox?" Only the owner can admit to themselves their motivation, and How they'd feel when they ultimately hear that.

I see quite a few these days that are better than when they were made. Saw a fabulous one Saturday AAMOF. I admire the effort.

Geo funny that you mention sleeving. I have been trying to justify sleevng a Sterlingworth ejector to 30 or 32". The donor gun is a 16 with whacked barrels that is on nice over all condition. At first I thought about doing it as a 20 but then considered a 28 ga. protect. The numbers just don't add up that well for me. By the time I'm done I'd have a large amount of what a new graded Fox in 28 would have cost. Is it better to go the upgrade route or put more into it and get a real graded 28? Neither will be quick or cheap. My wife suggested just buy hew and time it for my 65 birthday. Got to love a wife with that type of positive attitude.

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