Need Info on Francotte 10 ga.

[LEJ ZO6]

I have a Francotte 10 Ga. Double barrel Shotgun. It is an external hammer Damascus barrel shotgun. I haven't had any luck finding information about this type of firearm. Here is what I know about it.

My dad's uncle (my great uncle I guess) bought this shotgun from Abercrombie & Fitch in the 1930's. It is my understanding that Francotte made these for Abercrombie and Fitch. My great uncle used it to hunt ducks and geese. When he died in the 1960's my dad inherited the shotgun. When my dad died in 1981 I became the owner. It is in good condition but since it is Damascus and used black powder shot shells it has some barrel pitting. I have never shot it.

It is Model 8420 the S/N indicates it was manufactured in 1933 or 1934. The S/N is stamped on the bottom rib under the forearm and on the trigger guard tang. It is marked on the top of the barrel release tang with "Francotte Brevette" stamped on the sides of a crown. The number 559 is stamped beneath the crown.

The top rib is engraved with "No. 8420 A. Francotte Paris France B. Kitteredge & Co. CIN Club Gun".

The bottom rib is marked with the S/N, and "7813 10". The bottom left barrel has "25" and the right bottom barrel has "42" marked on them. I believe this indicates the amount of “choke” in the barrel.

The right lock is engraved with "Paris France" and the left with "A. Francotte".

I'm curious as to how much this piece may be worth. If you have any additional information I'd like to hear from you.

Lloyd

 

[grumpyvette]

Id suggest getting a minimum of 3 separate, value estimates from QUALIFIED & KNOWLEDGEABLE appraisers
it may be worth far more or less than you might imagine, obviously its condition and rarity matter a great deal,

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17006882/Doub ... ent-Values

about 18 years ago I had a friend, who found a cased 10 gauge shotgun in an attic of a house he was doing repairs on, the lady freaked out and told him to "take it away she could not have in in her house",he paid her $100 on the spot and got a receipt for the gun which had obviously been left by a previous owner of the house.. she had lived there for 30 plus years and never knew it was in the attic,....he held it for a few years and went down to a pawn shop and figured he would get $400 or so..the guy offered him $1500, knowing how cheap pawn brokers normally are, he was smart enough to do a good deal more research and eventually found a buyer that paid him $4500, but he later felt like an idiot when he saw the gun sell later at an auction for over $10K, and says hes seen other similar guns sell for over $15k

 

[LEJ ZO6]

I hear you. It is really difficult to put a value on some of these things. I don't think I want to sell it because it does have some sentimental value but I would like to kind of know what it might be worth. I am looking forward and trying to leave relatives a little better off than I was when my dad passed away. He had been a radio repair guy back in the 40's. He had about a dozen antique radios from the teens and twenties. No one in the family had any interest in them or any knowledge about them. We didn't have any contacts in the circles he was in that could have helped us out. We ended up selling them at auction (e-Bay wasn't around in those days). I'm sure we only got pennies on the dollar for them.

I'd like to keep my records up to date so that when I pass away someone will at least know whether this shotgun is worth $100 or $10,000. They might not be able to get top dollar for it but at least they might know when someone is trying to take advantage of them.

Lloyd