[Alex Johnson]

Hi everybody, nice to be back online. Last week I acquired a fine old double barrel Ithaca, outside hammer 16 guage double with AA grade damascus barrels. I perhaps bought it a bit hastily since I haven't seen many 16 guage damascus shotguns and this one appeared to be in pretty good shape. Mechanically, aside from a set of broken firing pins which I have already fixed, the gun is in great condition, though none of the finish remains on the metal. The Buttstock and forend have both been cracked and repaired, while not a bad repair it was an old and visible one. I'm thinking about restocking it and having the metal work refinished with period techniques, ie casehardening the action and browning the damascus tubes. My one concern is does this Ithaca have any collector value in its present condition that would make it a bad idea to proceed. I have no problem proceeding if the value is under $300, but if it's much over that I would be leery. The one thing somewhat unusual (at least to my thinking) is that it has 32" tubes where most of my other guns have 28-30". Could anyone tell me anything about the history of this old girl, her serial number is 34XXX. Thanks a lot.