Don't remember the OP's name or his exact question, but the website crash erased his thread. I posted some photos of a plated rifle I have.

beautiful wood and checkering!

Nice to see this rifle out of it's coffin! I would have chased after this one too Roy, even without knowing it was a movie star

Did the factory letter mention rifle grade and/or plating? Nickel or Silver?

Oh, you know me, I haven't lettered it. I promised I would but I haven't. Sorry guys.

IMO your rifle is the perfect candidate for a factory letter.
Fingers crossed,... the letter would confirm rifle grade, special, etc. and may even include plating.
Either way, the value of the rifle stays the same or doubles depending.

I also think a movie prop would be beat up. A prop wouldn't need a rifle like that. But, ya never know.
It's a special rifle probably owned by a movie star. The story got twisted somewheres.

These both letter as factory nickel. .32 & .380
I wouldn't have bought them otherwise. But in the pistol world there are more after market with plating floating around. Rifles, not so much.

Roy,
Was the tang sight (29 1/2?) on it when you bought the gun?

It could have, or it could be exactly what I was told. A factory letter won't verify it's use after leaving the factory. I guess I need to try to remember what I can and lay it out for the jury. It was plated for use in silent movie(s) produced by D.W. Griffith. It was said to have been plated for better visability in black and white movies. I do not know when or who plated it.

It was lost in a poker game to the family I got it from (through a dealer). How it went from movies to private onwership, or whether it was privately owned while being used in movies I don't know. The family that sold it had owned it for decades.

Is any of this true? I don't know. Is it factory plated? I don't know but normally the factory did not plate the entire rifle. Whether they made an exception for a movie company and did this one, I could only speculate.

Maybe a factory letter would help. i guess it's just not that important to me. I have it because I like looking at it. Part of the appeal is the wondering about it's history. A factory letter could tell me something about it, and I probably should order one. I've not been convinced the new letters sound all that great.

You could look for silent movie(s) produced by D.W. Griffith. Now that would be neat to find one with the rifle in it.

Yeah I get it. Do what ya want. You're gonna anyway.

I just look at it all as provenance info. Tells a story.
Sounds like you have some of the historic info on mid-life for this rifle.
A birth certificate (letter) would fill in the early life info. Who knows where it may lead?...

What do I know? I'm eating this...

Yes.

I did watch some, but life gets in the way. Maybe when I'm old I'll settle down and take care of business better.

A 29 1/2 on a gun that was used as a movie prop?

I am not defending the sights on the gun Ted, but you asked. It's been over 100 years since it was used in movies. Anyone could have changed the sights in that time. Who knows, maybe it's been fired and used in the last 100 years.

Roy,
Only speculating that the sight legitimizes the gun.

I guess I'm too darned tired to follow ya buddy. Have a good night Ted.

I really like the gun.

That's a very interesting rifle, Roy. I like it alot. Love the woodwork!
I've never seen anything like it.

Those are beautiful.

Does anyone remember what the thread asking about plated Savages was about?

The OP's question was "has anyone ever seen an engraved and plated 99?"
...and then Loggah broke the internet.

Thanks, Loggah. It needed done.

Those sights were mounted so the rifle could be a shooter, not just a movie prop, for sure!

D.W. Griffith has too many titles to watch. I found a book on him, but couldnt find contact info for the author. I did find contact info for the man who edited the book, Charlie Keil,
Professor, Cinema Studies Institute / Department of History University of Toronto. I emailed him a photo of the plated rifle and asked him if he possibly recognizes it from the works of Griffith.

He did not, so he sent my question to Professor David Mayer, a Griffith expert in the UK. He did not recognize the rifle either, but added this:

In response to the query from Mr. Groshel, I can offer this information: Griffith and many other filmmakers on the East Coast hired their weapons and other props from Francis Bannerman & Co. I have described this connection in a short piece I wrote for Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film’s Documents of performance section: “Documents of Performance: Francis Bannerman Archive”, Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Vol. 42, Issue 2, 2015, pp. 164 -173.

here is a link to the piece he references.
https://www.academia.edu/35808384/Francis_Bannerman_Sons_Archive

The piece is interesting because it speaks of the Bannerman archives. Bannerman kept good records of what was requested and sent to productions. Those archives are available, not on line but at the Hagley Museum in Delaware. https://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/2185.xml

Basically a dead end, but IF the rifle lettered to the consignee Bannermans (some of you may remember the catalog, they were the first mill surplus dealer in the us and did catalog sales) that would be a link to the film story.

Im supprised there are any records left after the massive explosion of "BANNERMANS CASTLE" many hundreds of lbs of black powder exploded and that was the end of bannerman firearm sales.

Roy,
Good job on this acquisition. No letter needed. I told you so..