Something special, I think!

[maddog350gt]

Hi all,
It’s been a while since I spent much time on the forum, but I wanted to share this recent find from the Portland Oregon gun show. I have tried to show as much detail in the pictures as I can. My photo set up still leaves something to be desired. If you need more, or different shots let me know, I will try to get them.
What I found was a 1902 AE Fat Barrel that has been worked over extensively to “improve its appearance”. This is one of the gaudiest reworks I have ever seen (although Dwight Gruber said from the preliminary picture I sent him that I was being too hard on it). In some defense to the person who did this there are some very deep pits on the chamber that indicate that the gun was in very poor condition. What is most intriguing is that from the serial number, 22426, this appears to be one of the 13 un-accounted for Cartridge Counter Test Guns. I know there is a possibility this gun is a fake, as I understand there were a lot of them around, but I don’t see anything at this point that is inconsistent with an original. I didn’t pay a lot for the gun so the guy I bought it from (the one who did the refinish) didn’t make huge windfall on it. I didn’t set the price on the gun, it had a price on it when I walked up to the sellers table. The owner wasn’t at the show, his sons or son-in-laws (I’m not sure which) were showing the gun but the owner had set the price. I told them that whoever had done the refinish had ruined a very voluble gun (I thought it was just a 1902 AE). Un-refinished and in poor condition I told them it would have been worth a minimum of a couple of thousand dollars. They didn’t seem upset and said they had tried to talk the owner out of the refinish and kind of relished the idea of telling him “I told you so”. I felt the refinish had taken the collector value out of the gun (at that time I didn’t realize it was in the cartridge counter serial range and I hadn’t done an in-depth inspection) I paid them what they were asking and I bought it as a conversation piece and a shooter. It wasn’t until I got back to my table and looked up the serial number in the blue book that I found it to be in the cartridge counter series. By then I already owned it.

This is what I found when I did a more thorough inspection of the gun:
The full serial number matches on the front of the frame and the barrel.
The last three digits of the serial number match on the receiver lug, breach-block, front and rear toggle members.
The witness mark on the barrel and frame are in perfect alignment; it does not appear the barrel has ever been changed.
The short frame looks identical to the frame on my other 1902 AE.
Rifling in the barrel is better than expected; I didn’t think there would be any signs of the lands and groves but they are there. It is not pristine but I have seen worse.
There is a two digit serial number match on the trigger.
The side-plate is un-numbered (Dwight pointed out that this side plate is from a Swiss gun as the bump for the lever arm runs all the way to the top of the side plate).
There is no number on the safety (this would be correct for a 1902 AE).
There is no number on the take-down lever; it appears to have been buffed off.
The grip safety has been removed, and the safety bar replace with a non grip safety variety (the safety will not engage due to the un-relived sear bar.
The spring for the grip safety is still in place.
The grips are aftermarket reproductions and are poorly fit.
The gun has been buffed and given a high gloss salt blue; all of the sharp edges have been rounded over.
There is a deep pit on the right side of the sight blade
The front of the barrel has been ground down even with the sight base.
The barrel was buffed but not turned down as the serial number is still evident.
There has been extensive engine turned “jewelling” done to the trigger, sear-bar, side-plate, frame, toggle, extractor, ejector, toggle Locke and the magazine release button.
The hold-open spring is broken.
The trigger arm in the side-plate is stuck and the gun will not fire with this side-plate installed (I did put in another side plate and the gun did function with it).
The serrations on the toggle knobs have been buffed almost smooth on the left side, not as bad on the right.
The chamber has been buffed extensively and the AE is almost gone there are some very deep pits on either side of the AE that couldn’t be buffed out. The pits on the left side of the AE are very deep.
There is a deep pit on the front of the trigger guard and some minor pitting on the sear-bar.
The end of the pin for the hold open is not flush with the frame surface, I assume this corroded because of the different metallurgy of the pin, but this could have been for some other reason.
The rest of the metal surfaces, although buffed do not have extensive pitting and are relatively clean.
Dwight suggested that I take off the left grip and see if the gun was relieved for the cartridge counter device and I did so and it is relived. It looks the same as the picture of the relieved frame in Jan Still’s Central Powers book (Pg 422). I compared it to my other 1902 AE and it is not the same.

I did check the data table of known cartridge counters Ron Wood supplied for Jan’s CP book, and this serial number is one of the 13 un-accounted for.

It was my understanding from the seller that the gun was refinished fairly recently (within the past couple of years). I wish I could have found it earlier and stopped the refinish, but then I probably couldn’t have afforded it.

My current position is that this is a lost cartridge counter and that it should be restored, as close as possible, to its original condition. I am in the process of contacting Gale Morgan to see if he will take on the restoration.

I would like to get comments from the group on any aspects of the gun, its originality, and my plans to have it restored. I have a thick skin so don’t be shy or worry about hurting my feelings; I am interested in hearing other opinions.

Thanks,
Bob Maddix

Note; I'll put some more pictures in another post to follow