Crescent Firearms

WH Davenport c. 1878-1890, Crescent Firearms c. 1893-1930, J. Stevens Arms c. 1930-1945. They were distributed by Shapleigh Hardware of St Louis.

All the serial lists I have on the 12ga Sterlingworth have the numbers starting at 53800 in 1910. Can you verify that number? sales@countrygunsmith.net

No. Anyone who knows even a little bit about shotguns should be able to tell you the gauge by looking at it. But an older gun may have short chambers and if you intend to shoot it you should have have a gunsmith measure them.

If it also says Norwich Conn, it was manufactured by Crescent Fire Arms, c. 1890-1930 (with open hammers, probably before 1910). If not, then by Simonis, Janssen & Dumoulin in Belgium c. 1884-1905. A Belgian gun will also carry the proofmark of ELG* in an oval and if there is a crown over this mark, it was made after 1893.

Crescent Fire Arms, Norwich, Connecticut.

HSB and Co was Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett and Company, a large Chicago hardware wholesale/retail operation. Rev-O-Noc is "Conover" in reverse and was a trade name sold by the Conover Hardware chain of Kansas City.

'American Gun Co' was a house brand of the H&D Folsom Co, a major firearm distributor of the late 1800's through the early 20th century. The guns were made by Crescent Firearms, which H&D Folsom bought c.1922. 'American Gun Co of New York' was a house-brand of Crescent before the Folsom takeover and the 'of New York' was dropped afterwards. The whole nine yards was eventually taken over by Savage. Your Victor Ejector would have been made in 1900-1930. sales@countrygunsmith.net

Belgian shotguns marked 'T Parker' were imported c.1880-1910 for sale through the various mail-order and catalog hardware stores. The play on the name was intentional, designed to fool unwitting buyers into believing this was a Parker Brothers shotgun (it is not). Similar markings include 'Sam Holt' (Colt) and 'W Richards' (Westley Richards). There was a 'Thomas Parker' who was a gunbuilder in England, but his guns are specifically marked as such and would not have the laminated Belgian barrels.

The gun has no real collector value, although there are a few of us who study the old hardware-store guns. Value is merely whatever someone would pay for something to go over the fireplace, and although we see these marked at $250 consistently we also see them consistently not selling for that. $150-$200 if in Very Good shape is more realistic.

Please do not attempt to shoot the shotgun. As well as being 100 years old (at least), it was never designed for the pressure curve of smokeless powder and any modern ammunition is very liable to separate those barrels and cause injury.

sales@countrygunsmith.net

Early 1900's, from 1900-1920 or thereabouts. Value depends on condition. Low of $20 for a parts gun, high of $100 for top condition. sales@countrygunsmith.net

These single-barrel Crescent shotguns range from < $50 as a parts gun, to maybe $100 if in excellent shape.

According to gun data .com they did. I am currently looking for parts for one of these

tip-up .32 cal. revolvers.

$150 to $250, depending on how good it looks over the fireplace since this old timer probably isn't suitable for a field gun anymore.

You can't. BTW, knowlingly owning a firearm with the serial number defaced is a felony.

Most old single shots sell between $35 and $75, depending on condition, but a .410 may bring a premium from the right buyer.

The "Enders Royal" name is associated with Shapleigh Hardware of St Louis, and Crescent was one of the several manufacturers. "Cannon Breech-Simmons Hardware Co" is found on single shot guns made by J. Stevens Arms Co. But I cannot locate any information that indicates a shotgun was made with both of these trade names.

The Sportsman-Cleveland was made by J. Stevens Arms Co. It probably has '5100' marked on the right side of the receiver. There is no 5100 on the right side. There is a circled 22 on the bottom of the receiver, near the forend. On top of one bbl it is stamped Selected Forged Steel and the other bbl has Proof Tested 16 Gauge on the top. Whe you remove the wood forend there is a metal tab on bottom of the bbls that the forend snaps onto, it has a C and below that is a Z. Stamped in the inside wood of the forend is E84553 and beside that on the metal is 84553. It has double triggers. My uncle says he thinks he paid $39 for it new but doesnt remember when that was. Any idea its age and value? Its condition is about 60%. Thank you for the assistance.

Not sure how you are getting those markings. If the gun is a break-open single-shot shotgun marked 'CHEROKEE ARMS CO' it was distributed by the HD Folsom Arms Co for sale by a major hardware/catalog store in Tennessee from c.1890-1920 or so. Could have been made by Crescent Firearms, but also could have been made by a number of other manufacturers such as Hopkins & Allen, H&R, etc. Value would be less than $100. sales@countrygunsmith.net

1890-1930. sales@countrygunsmith.net

This is an interesting story. The gun IS Belgian, and it is a 'C Parker', but it is NOT a Browning. Has nothing to do with Browning. In the late 1800's, from about 1880 through 1910, various major distributors such as the HD Folsom Company imported thousands of inexpensive shotguns from Europe (primarily Belgium) for sale by the various large mail-order catalog hardware stores of the time. Sears sold them, for instance. They had neat names designed to impress the typical unsophisticated Midwest or frontier buyer, such as "The Interchangeable." Some retailers wanted to play on the more established gunmaker names so we see these shotguns marked with "SAM HOLT" (not Sam Colt, even though Colt Firearms were never marked that way), "BARKER" instead of Parker, and "C PARKER" (also to confuse with Charles Parker and subsequent Parker Brothers). Parker Brothers shotguns and the early Charles Parker shotguns are considered some of the finest American made shotguns ever and are highly collected well into the six-figure price range. Your gun, however, is NOT one of these. On the underneath of the barrels, between the barrels and the frame, you should see the telltale 'ELG' proofmark indicating Belgian manufacture. The finish on the barrels is probably NOT actually Damascus, but a version of twist construction. Value is as a decorator piece only - these guns are universally considered unsafe to shoot. $200 or so, if in top condition. sales@countrygunsmith.net

Single barrel, tops out at $75. Double-barrel, tops out at $175. sales@countrygunsmith.net

Meriden Firearms, Meriden, Connecticut, operated from 1905 to 1915 and was owned by Sears Robuck. Mr. A J Aubrey was the Sears official in charge of Meriden Firearms.

This will be a Stevens shotgun made circa 1930-1948. It would bring $35 to $80 depending on condition.

What information would you want? Crescent made single shotguns from 1893 to 1930. If it has a large side hammer and damascus barrels, it would almost certainly be from before 1915. If it has fluid steel barrels and a center hammer (or is hammerless) then sometime after 1903.

i found a small list of parts at numrich guns and parts