I am researching a Grade 4 Flues 20 gauge that happens to also be a swamped rib gun. The interesting inscription on the initial plate is "Geo. Penn, Danville, VA. A quick ancestry.com search reveals a lot of Penns in the Danville area and mention of a Penn plantation. I was wondering if any of the Virginia Vintagers had any knowledge of the Penn family? The gun is about 1919.

Walt,
That looks like a real beauty!!!!
Bob Jurewicz

Can't understand the excitement over anything Ithaca made...

Walt,that ia a fine looking Ithaca. Bobby

Walt,

I found this.

http://hagen.familyfiles.info/6975.htm

Apparently the business is still around. He was a tobacco dealer.

Pete

Pete, Thank you very much. Daryl also sent me a lead to a law suit among the Penn aires. I will get up with the Dannville Historical Society/library and see if I can find a living descendant. Many thanks!!

I dunno about old Joe's comment- I cleaned and stripped a 10 hammer NIG circa 1906 (listed as a parts sale item on another sector here- was very impressed with the machining and fit and design of this boxlock hammer gun- I also recently acquired a Flues 20 Grade 1 in near Mint shape circa 1911- and a Flues Grade 2 28 also in VG plus shape- made in 1914-- light, well balanced, easy to cock, sweet triggers, good balance--and am dealing on a 12 NID with single trigger 28" M&F-- I like that Ithaca used a numerical system for their chokes too- Now if we only had a Ithaca Collectors Assn. website as do the Parkeristas, the Smith-son-ians and the Foxy Ladies do- ah yessss!!!

I'll vote for you to be their leader...

Thanks Joe- but No- if that were the case, nobody would join.

Dang! RWTF has a sense of humor!

Walt,

I can't wait to read the article you will write about this one. A classic American gun. I own several Ithacas, but not as nice as this one. It looks to have been kept in great shape.

Pete

HJ, what a load of crap.....especially with the pic at the top of the thread.

I don't get it, Ithaca made more (and sold more) SXS guns than anyone else in the era.....most were pretty simple, but worked and were worked hard, and they made very nice guns too, if you asked them to.

If you cannot find any redeeming qualities in them, fine...you are entitled to your opinion but please shut the [censored] up, no one asked for your opinion, so without you asking, I gave you mine of you..

Mark

Walt,
The Chinqua Penn Plantation is located near Eden,N.C. and it was built by the family of the owners of the Penn Tobacco Company. There may be no connection, but it's a possibility.

Well said 775. I love the higher grades and even my field grade NID. This particular example is outstanding and a rel find. As a Virginian, I'm particularly intrigued by it's provenance.

-jmc

KFC
I have been to that place but never connected the name. George Penn was president of the Penn Tobacco Co! Thanks to all here, I think we can run this one to ground! I will post future findings.

Can you find a gun more reasonable in price than a NID that gives you modern material and stock dimensions that are near current factory norms? A decent shooter in 12 can often be found for less than $500.00, a 16 or 20 for just a few hundred more. Ithaca are the value gun in todays market. Not the most stylish to some but they are good basic guns that you can feed fairly stiff loads in without worry about missing fingers or split wood or barrels. Find a graded gun and they are a real nice looking gun for the money.

Ithaca, the "Red headed step-child" of the American gun industry, but also the Native American word for "No back-up necessary"!!!

I like the Ithaca guns and that is a fine looking one for sure. But I have to state here my pet peeve with Ithaca: they often use trigger guards without the return (term?), that little curlicue thingy that completes the oval of the guard (the pictured gun is an example). A double gun ought to have one, and a double just doesn't look right (read looks cheap) without it. I have the same complaint with Nitro Specials and later Stevens guns. How's that for picky?

Don't some of you guys realize Harmless jOe is just playing you and you are taking his bait hook, line and sinker. He's not going to change and besides some of his posts are quite amusing. He's sort of the Don Rickels of the forum, I think.

George's grandson has been located and arrangements for an interview are in progress.

Fin2feather
Perhaps you need to consider the NID model.



or a Crass model

or even a Lewis model(no photo)

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Thanks Walt; beautiful. So why does Ithaca sometimes use those sisty uglers (apologies to Archie Campbell)?

Walt, can you tell me how this search turned out? Did you interview the Grandson?

Edh, Sorry to say I wasn't able to meet with him. I dropped the ball on this subject and will see if I can pick it back up. Thanks for reminding me.

And Edh, thanks for resurrecting the thread. I missed it on its first run and have enjoyed reading through the thoughts/comments while the snow flies outside. (And I might add, the comments on GlacierJohn’s upland gun thread as well.). They’ve both certainly given me some joy as I think back over my Ithaca SXS’s.

And, Walt, good to see you on board again. You’re missed. Hope you’re doing well.

best thread here in a while...thanks to awl...

I've owned exactly one Flues double a few years ago (a 20) and it left me wanting to know more about them. A 1 1/2 grade gun, it was petite and lovely and...it had aged quite gracefully. It was a bit short for me (and it also had more drop than I normally prefer) but I shot it fairly well. I got tendered in a deal for another gun but I've never forgotten it.

I have but one Flues, a 20 gauge, sweet shooting gun with a leather comb added.
I do shoot 2 1/2 inch ammo in this one.

Mike

Ref: Walt’s post above on the trigger guard “return”

A Lewis example ...



and let's not forget the early ...



and mid range NIG's ...

I know this is an old thread, but this post interest me. I’m one of those guys that when I do a google search to dream about a new gun, I look for Foxes, LC’s, Parker’s and Levefer, but never Ithaca. I now realize I have a kind of built in prejudice against them and I don’t know why.

Funny how that works. This weekend I took my sons shooting and we had pump guns. The boys ended up deciding the Ithaca 37 20 were so much smoother pumping than the Winchester Model 12 20. On top of that the wood was much nicer as well. Ithaca does seem to be the hidden gem in guns if you know what to look for. And the single barrel trap guns need a bot of attention as well.

Is that method of engraving the plate--along the length of the stock, and style of lettering, typical of Ithaca's work in that timeframe?

Just wondering if anything more has come up on this gun. Did Walt ever interview the grandson? Anybody else have any info?