doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com W. Richards (Crescent?) SxS info?

Greetings all!
Noob here. I picked up a W. Richards Norwich CONN hammerlock SxS 32" for a whopping $10. Serials all match, #26581 and barrels are stamped "7". Can anyone give me any additional info, such as gauge, age, etc.?
I know it's probably a Crescent, but I see no Belgian proof marks. I do have photos but don't see how to attach.

Thanks in advance,
Dave

Here you go, including estimated dates of manufacture
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1OxZo5Tkvx2G8eYf747QR9B5RJdN6Siu5JGIhfguSXXQ

there were two W Richards that I know of making guns. One was English and made pretty good guns, sometimes confused with Westley Richards which they were not, the other W Richards was made in Belgium and was a cheaper gun made mostly to make someone think that they were buying a Westley. Same way they used the name T. Parker and one that I don't remember right now for Greener. It's entirely possible that there was a gunmaker with that name in the states as well.

It came to me that it was A. Greener. You'll have to find out the gauge there's no way for us to know unless you post photos and then it will only be a guess. Most likely 12 with 10 being next.

How do I post photos?

Thanks!

Let's see if this works:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/S2dNpWc9yuUzqclv1

I believe there were at least three makers using the W Richards Name. William Richards used the W Richards mark as I recall, but he was a "Legitimate" maker. If you know guns at all his will not be confused with the "Knock-Offs". The Belgian made guns were most likely made by Pieper, who made some decent quality guns but Cheap ones as well. The W Richards guns generally fall in the Cheap category. I have a 12 gauge hammer gun marked W Richards as well which has Birmingham proofs. This gun is neither a Westley nor William Richards. It was likely made by J P Clabrough. It is a cut or so above the Belgian made ones but not of the quality of a hammerless Clabrough marked gun I also own, which is one of their lower grade guns carrying their name.

When these guns were being sold new the bottom line Clabrough sold for about $50.00 while the Belgian made W Richards was around $10.00 to $15.00. I do not know what price range the Birmingham made ones fall in. A close examination of the guns clearly shows the reason for this price differential.

I can't recall that I have ever seen a Crescent masde gun marked W Richards, but Crescent marked their guns with a world of different trade names for different retailers, so that is not too unusual, I have not seen near all the names they used.

PS; I do not recall having ever seen nor having seen reference to a Crescent made double larger than a 12 gauge.

It is a Crescent Model 0 made 1898, the year after introduction



Genuine Armory Steel

Awesome. Thanks!

Drew, are you sure it's a Crescent? The gun in the photo doesn't have the elongated balls that I always see on Crescent hammer guns. However, they look like Crescent hammers.

Steve