Keith, I stand corrected concerning the location of the Ithaca assembly of the Lefever Guns. I found this article in the Syracuse newspaper. Although I don't have the date it is quite clear from the context that the move was made shortly after the sale in 1916.
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We certainly do not know how many guns Ithaca assembled. Based on Bob Elliott's number projections the annual production by the Lefever Arms Co. from 1910 to 1914 was a little less than 2,000 guns per year. I doubt that the total production by Ithaca exceeded 1 year's production by the LAC. Even if they only assembled 1,000 guns that would make them as common as Dan Lefever's crossbolt guns. Quite clearly some assembled by Ithaca are labeled Syracuse, NY. Whether this was because they were already stamped or done deliberately by Ithaca will never be known.
The argument I have against the "prototype" theory for the gun in question is why the LAC would choose to basically discount an H grade gun by simply marking it I grade. On the other hand, I have no explanation of why the serial number is so low as compared to other known Ithaca guns.
It would help if the original poster would publish photos of the underside of the barrels. Sometimes, but not always, Ithaca has unique markings on the barrels that identify them as having been assembled by Ithaca.
