**L.C. Smith 4E 12 Gauge

12 Gauge. 30" barrel length. SN: 202868. 2.75" chamber length. Full chokes. Casehardened frame with blued barrels mounting English walnut semi-pistol grip stock and splinter forend, and featuring twin white and gold bead sights on a matted barrel rib. Double barrel side by side sidelock ejector shotgun featuring a single selector trigger, and a rubber recoil pad. Stock and forend feature bordered checkering with hardrubber semi pistol grip cap. The sideplates are engraved with the maker marking L.C. SMITH, with a banner on the barrel rib reading HUNTER ARMS CO FULTON N.Y. in engraved letters and featuring a gold forward border, and light border engraving along the breeches and dollshead. Nitro steel proofs visible over each barrel with 4E quality marking below the serial number on the barrel flats. Watertables are marked PATD JULY 13-86/PATD OCT 5-86. Forend ejector patent mark reads PAT'D MAY 28. 1901. Trigger plate is engraved HUNTER ONE TRIGGER and features gold inlaid L and R barrel selector markings, with the tang showing a similarly gold inlaid S safety mark. Sidpelates feature spiral scroll engraved flourishes enclosing bank note scroll vignettes of pointers. Triggerguard vignette shows two quail feeding among the brush. Sunburst flourishes adorn the barrel fences and hingepin. Shotgun features removable firing pin bushings with set screws. Timing of the engraved screws indicates the shotgun has been disassembled and maintained. Item comes with an L.C. Smith Collectors Association letter by James Stubbendieck affirming that this shotgun was finished on October 28, 1904, and inspected by William C. McKnight, the primary inspector of high grade shotguns produced by L.C. Smith before 1918. The records indicate it left the factory with 30 inch barrels and a splinter forend, but that records from before 1918 do not typically record the trigger configuration. Only 495 No. 4 pattern shotguns were produced between their introduction in 1894, and their replacement in 1914. 13.5" length of pull. 1.75" drop to comb. 2.75" drop to heel. 7.66 lbs weight. {C&R}

This lot is located in Cincinnati.