Beschreibung:

12 gauge, 30" engraved-rib barrels choked modified and full, S/N 6500. Blued barrels, deeply engraved color casehardened receiver, highly figured walnut stock with lobed pistol-gripped stock and leather covered recoil pad. Checkered and carved splinter forend with engraved casehardened latch and bone and gold inlaid escutcheon. Water table engraved with foliate decorations and further engraved: PRESENTATION / GRADE / 6500 / SPECIAL with the opposite side engraved with the patent date information. Interior of forend engraved en-suite with matching serial number as well. Matching serial number 6500 is present on triggerguard tang and under barrels which are also marked: A SPECIAL and FOX / PROOF. The number 3 is under both barrels. The barrel rib is marked in gold leaf in two lines: BUILT EXPRESSLY FOR W.H. GOUGH / BY A.H. FOX GUN Co., PHILA. PA. The receiver is profusely engraved with the highest quality tight banknote Arabesque scrolls, foliate sprays and game scenes with applied gold decorations. These include a classical archer motif on both of the recoil shields, roses on the lower front edge of the receiver, a wolf and a grouse on the bottom of the receiver and a partridge on the trigger guard. The barrels are similarly engraved at the chambers and muzzles and feature an applied gold elk on the side of each chamber along with gold bands. The wrist of the highly figured stock is finely checkered with carved floral boarders and the stock flats behind the receiver are similarly carved. The stock is capped by a leather covered recoil pad. The splinter foend is carved and checkered with a finely engraved case hardened release mechanism and features a bone and gold inlaid escutcheon. The double triggers are gold plated and have a 14.25" length of pull. The drop at comb is 1.875" and the drop at heel is 2.375". A really outstanding example of the gun maker's art, exquisitely executed and very attractive. The gun is accompanied by a Merkel hard case with a set of Merkel accessories inside. The records of Doug Turnbull Restorations indicate that this gun (by serial number, noted as an "AH FOX A Special") was sent to them in 1993 for restoration. Details of the work performed were not immediately available in their records. The loss of Fox factory records makes it impossible to confirm the serial number and configuration of the Gough presentation gun. Were it possible to definitively prove that this is the Gough gun it would no doubt be worth well in excess of $150,000 in the current Fox collector market. William Gough was an engraver who engraved for A.H. Fox, Parker, Winchester, Remington, Marlin and Colt, as well as Meriden and Aubrey shotguns. His father, Harold, was a Birmingham Gun trade engraver that came to the US and worked for Parker Bros in Meriden. William Gough apprenticed under his father at Parker Bros. About 1912, he went to the A.H. Fox Gun Co. and was head of their engraving department. He designed the bolder engraving styles Fox went to in the 1913-14 time frame. Even though he was head of the Fox engraving department, most of the work he did was commission work from others (Winchester, Colt, Marlin, etc.) and a few high-grade Fox guns. Once the gun company part of their business was sold to Savage, and the production of the Ansley H. Fox gun was moved to Utica, NY, this outside commission work didn't sit well with the Savage executives and Gough opened his own engraving shop in Utica, and continued engraving into the 1950s. From the Utica newspaper dated August 24th 1954, William Gough "...took commissions in special engraving jobs from many parts of the country...he worked on engravings for Aubrey Guns, then manufactured by Sears Roebuck Co.; for guns turned out by Norwich Arms Corp., and Hollenbeck guns manufactured in Virgiina." (courtesy www.meridenfirearms.com) Condition: Very fine, as restored. Gun shows little use, however the blue on the barrels has thinned with age and has as streaky appearance under str