Joe Martin's thread started me thinking about provenance on Savages. I know that there is a vast difference in the factory records as far as details of shipment, with probably the vast majority showing only a wholesale house, but once in a while there will be more information, sometimes much more. It would be interesting to hear some of the stories that the letters tell. I'll start:

I ran across a table of 99's at the Missouri State Trap Shoot a few years ago. Bass Pro had a booth there, for as far as I know the only time. I had been interested in Savages for quite a while, but knew very little about them. There was a somewhat fancy one, with checkered cheeks and deluxe wood that called to me. I called my wife to tell her she may be upset with me, as I had spent way over my limit for anything but a trap gun. When I got home, I found this band of enablers, and was able to send off to Mr. Callahan for a letter. This was the result.

Accepted to the warehouse June 16, 1915
Forwarded to the original consignee, July 21, 1915 J. Dep Lynch
No other information on consignee available
Consignee J. Dep. Lynch was at that time corporate secretary of Savage, and de facto Chief Operating Officer
Subsequently, there were four work orders between 1924 and 1936, with the first covering fitting of new sights. The barrel is of the later thread configuration, and was probably retrofitted on one of the later orders.
All four of the work orders refer to to return to Fred J. Rath, of Utica , NY
According to Utica records, Rath was a prominent business man and politician, serving as Mayor and councilman for Utica, as well as state assemblyman.

Those are the facts that have been uncovered. Speculation: Did Lynch order the rifle for Rath? They would have at least been acquaintances, if not friends. If Lynch had wanted, he could have had the very finest of 99's.
The rifle is obviously a cut above the standard initial 250/3000's, but not to the point that an affluent person would hesitate to hunt it. The upstate New York is prime deer country, and the rifle while well kept, did not spend its life in a safe.

What do you have for stories?

...keeping with the Savage Arms executive theme....

I bought this pistol from Bailey.
Factory accepted July 5, 1911, shipped Aug. 15, 1911 to Virginia-Carolina Hardware Co.
Returned on job number 3883 fro J. T. Callifer and placed in second hand stock.
Removed from stock Jan 17, 1930 and consigned to Savage Arms, job 286 to install pearl handles and shipped to J. V. Falcon/Montgomery Ward Purchasing Exec. presumably as a gift.
Joseph Falcon went on the join Savage as a sales executive and ascended to President in the 50's.
Falcon presented the One Millionth 99 to the NRA in 1960.



Joseph V. Falcon, center

Beautiful pistol.

This rifle was factory accepted March 22, 1913, shipped March 24, 1913 to Frankenmuth Hardware Co. Milwaukee, WI
The rifle was B engraved with fancy American walnut stock and fore end with scroll applied for Leo S. Joerg. 1899H, 22HP
Joerg was a native of Milwaukee and died in 1959. He was a WWI veteran.
Obviously this rifle was ordered for him.

1899 octagon, serial #21.196, 303 caliber, F engraved, Circassian walnut stock and type C checkering. The factory letter shows that it was produced in 1901 with a half octagon barrel and in 30-30. Quoting from the JTC letter, "The record shows the original caliber scratched out and a full octagon barrel re-written and the caliber omitted". It was accepted to the warehouse on April 25, 1901. It was forwarded after the above changes on June 1, 1906 to the original consignee Luke M. Allen. Luke's name is engraved on the bottom of the receiver. Luke hocked the rifle in the 1930's. He eventually gave the paperwork to the father of the guy I bought it from who retrieved the rifle from the pawn shop. He hunted with it some and gave it to his son in the 1970's. I bought it about 10 years ago from the son. I went to Eastern Oregon to pick it up. He said Allen lived in Northern Washington state. I believe he said the Bellingham area. It appears on the cover of the "Collector's Guide" and is covered in the "Engraving" book, pages 195 to 198.
99 cased set. serial #246225. 300 Savage/.410. The ledgers show that this was a 99G shipped April 21, 1923, to the Iver Johnson Sporting Goods co. of Boston, Ma. JTC says it doesn't say cased set but most of the cased sets just letter as 99G's. I have documentation that this rifle belonged to Donald B. MacMillan, an Arctic explorer. He was out fitting for an expedition to the Arctic in the Boston area at the time the gun was shipped to Iver Johnson. He used it to gather specimens which probably ended up in the Perry MacMillan natural history museum at Bowden College in Maine. He subsequently gave it to another Arctic explorer in the 1930's who eventually sold it to the guy I got it from in the 1950's. I got it about 12 years ago. MacMillan accompanied Robert Peary most of the way on the expedition to the North Pole and continued Peary's Arctic exploration after Peary retired. This cased set is covered in the "Collector's Guide", pages 63 and 64.

I don't think Fug will mind me sharing this one.. provenance sometimes right on the gun.

I find this one very cool.

Gotta wonder if that gun (and likely others) were donated to the local authorities.

Yah, I'd like to have that one too!

Utica police also had 1907's, iirc. Not sure how one could tell if it was donated or purchased unless we could find a newspaper article talking about it. Ledger would just show where it went to, not whether it was paid for or donated.

With the price of a letter now it takes them out of the range of just doing it for fun. But, if Cody is at a show they will do a search right in front of you for 5 bucks. If the info is exciting enough you can get the $75 letter later. The one that really jump started me "collecting" was my 1912 22HP. The guy had it listed on GB. He said it was in barn find condition, may clean up, with no name period scope. It looked like a Malcolm to me so I called and asked if he would take less than it was listed for. When it arrived it was a bright shiny day outside, and I could see Malcolm 3X on the tube, so I sent off for a letter.
It was accepted at the warehouse August 20, 1912.
It was also shipped on August 20, 1912 to the original consignee, the Malcolm Rifle Telescope Co.

Center pistol.
#166056 warehoused Dec. 9 1916, shipped Dec. 14, 1916, Consignee is Savage Arms Co.
I got this pistol from John Wright. He found it at OGCA I believe and before that it belonged to James Carr (Savage Automatic Pistols page 110).
The letter writers and previous owners believe this pistol was used on display at shows. You can see the muzzle is beat up for some reason. It has also been modified so that it does not currently fire.
You can see it was produced during the Portuguese pistol run.

Then I have two letters for the next rifle. When this 1919 250-3000 used to live with Randy, he sent in for two letters. The numbers on the butt stock were off from the receiver, so he lettered the receiver, and lettered the butt stock. The receiver number said it was:
Received to the warehouse November 10, 1919
It was also forwarded to the original consignee, listed as the Emory Hardware Co of Bradford PA November 10, 1919.

The letter for the butt stock said:
I am sorry to respond to you with a disappointing letter. Regrettably, and unusual, the entry for this model is blank.
The consensus here, at the time, was the butt stock was original to the receiver. For what ever reason, that but stock was put on the action of the afore mentioned receiver. Forearm matched receiver. I forget if I ever checked the butt plate, maybe Randy remembers?

Provenance is cool. At $75 bucks it's just not worth lettering every rifle you have. If you can make it to a show that Cody is attending, then you can take a chance. I searched two of my rifles, and 4 of Joe Brady's. I would not have lettered either of mine. The Jo Mora rifle I had something to prove to myself, and I think the search and subsequent research did that. When I bought the rifle the general atmosphere was, what A hole, put a side mount on an engraved rifle. It was a 20's Noske scope on a 20's K. It wasn't a 70's Tasco on a vintage 20's K. I always had the feeling it was a person of means that bought the best rifle and best scope, and was probably the envy of his friends. Peter Hiller, the Mora Museum curator said that Mora was not an extravagant person, he was very practical. When he bought something, he bought the best, and it did not surprise him a bit if Mora set the rifle up like it is. I will send for a letter on it. I'll probably get a membership because I would like to letter a couple of my 1919 NRS's and they are on the list of rifles Cody can do.

The second rifle I had searched was my restored 1912 SRC in 3030. The only interesting thing about it, it was sold to the Baker, Hamilton Pacific Co. The same hardware store the Mora rifle was sold to.

None of mine are interesting/unusual specimens, and I highly any of have notable history attached, but I have thought of getting my 303 lettered someday just because of its age.

Very cool reading the thread so far, though. It's pretty interesting just knowing the road some of these guns have taken over the decades as the owners die and the piece passes on to new hands.

This began as an ebay item for sale with 2 days remaining. I did a number of quick searches and...
The bracelet identifies William Francis Cobb as the Lewis Gun Rep. for Savage Arms during WWI.
Cobb was a tool maker at Savage Arms during this time. Later he operated W.F. Cobb Co. in Utica producing No. 150 & No. 175 rear sights for Savage.
Documentation shows Cobb's passport app. to travel to England and France (The Allies) for a period of months for the Ordnance Dept.
It also shows his return to the States upon completion.
I wonder how many Lewis Guns he sold??











Lucky finds all the way around!

If you have a number of 99's to get info on, it's far cheaper now than it has been since probably the 90's.

I'm getting serial number information on 62 guns for about $8 apiece. Callahan was $15 when I bought my first 99.

Become a member of the Cody museum under $250 firearm membership. That gives you 10 searches & 2 letters - average $20 apiece. Already as cheap as Callahan was doing it when he retired.

Buy a packet of more searches, $5 to $7 a search depending on how many you buy. A search is the same info as a letter, you just have to print it off yourself.

That’s what I’m planning on doing. Do a search first and if it warrants a letter, get it later. The search I did last year, on the 1902 engraved rifle, they were not capable of instant check yet. They sent the info in an email. It looked like a letter on cheap paper.

Rory, am I correct that you can mix Savage rifles, pistols, shotguns, Winchesters.... anything they have records on?

Correct. A letter or search is good for any manufacturer they have and any model. I've lettered a pistol, for example.

That William Francis Cobb bracelet and paper work belongs with John Wright's Lewis machinegun. Wonder what happened to the gun after John passed away?

Good news! This bracelet and provenance was with John and his Lewis Gun for some years. I bought it with John in mind and transferred it to him.
As I understand it, he sold the Lewis Gun to someone. Yet retained the case and this bracelet. I requested the bracelet from John's estate and now have it.
I have wondered, is there a Lewis Gun Collectors group?

Glad to hear John had it with the gun

I just did a search for Lewis Gun Collectors and the first thing that came up was, "16 Awesome Firearms in the Jerry Lewis Collection". I never knew he was a gun enthusiast?

Southern WI, I believe that pistol was available at the KC MVACA Show about 15 years ago. I examined it and the damaged "bevel" of the front of the slide was unusual. If I remember correctly, it may have had a slight bulge in the barrel. I bought one, went back for this one and it was gone.

Oddly, Simmons' 1981 Gun Digest article shows two listings for 166056, both identifying it as a Portuguese Contract, the second also identifying correct Acceptance and Shipped dates and Savage Arms Co.. Pretty sure he made a typo

Savage1907, You had a shot at it back in '68 too!
You probably have some others on the sale bill.

#88

Was just about to post this same ad 😊 👍

Ive had a few interesting ones... best one I can remember...had an 1899H with flame checkering and stippled frame with A engraving and a signature (not just a name but a signature) engraved on the bottom... the letter said the gun was "shipped" to the advertising department. The name on the gun, Charles Everett Beane, was a gun writer from the early 1900s that is seen in several advertisements holding an 1899 (though only a long gun). Some searching here will find previous post from many years ago.

Cheers

I like to think of provenance as the confirmation of the story. They say buy the gun, not the story. But, if I like it, and it’s in my means at the time, I buy it. I was tickled when I got the K with the Noske side mount, when most others held their noses. When a search showed it was sold to Joe Mora, I got to be tickled all over again, and it doesn’t smell that bad. I’ll buy the gun for what I think it’s worth and be happy. Then if provenance comes along to confirm the story, I get to be happy all over again!

Drew, I’d be ecstatic just to see that rifle!