Читать книгу Gun Digest 2011 онлайн

133 страница из 495

Identifying characteristics of Variation 2.5.

This particular example of Variation 2.5 is a very recent discovery and only three specimens have been observed thus far. They represent only 1.3% of the total production, or less than 400 units produced, probably for only 30 days or so early in 1924. The serial numbers on the reported specimens are just 725 apart, which if Oscar followed the usually consecutive numbering of each piece, would mean there may be at least another 723 units out there. Whichever figures one uses, this means that Variation #2.5 is currently the rarest of the Brownie family and should, especially in the future, demand a premium in its selling price.

VARIATION #3

Variation #3 had the longest production period and therefore the most units of production, making it the most often encountered Brownie variation found. The stamping found on the right side of the barrel cluster of this variation is the same as the previous Variation #2.5: PAT. JULY 27, 1920. An estimated 20,977 units were produced from 1924 until the end of its production in 1932. Both of the boxed specimens I’ve managed to obtain are the Variation #3. It stands to reason that since these were the most recently made guns, the better their chance to have survived in Very Good, or Excellent, and even New condition. (Unfired, pristine guns with their original box and factory papers have come to be commonly known as NIB, or New In Box.) Only four boxes have been reported thus far.