Classic SxS - Chas Stark & Co, Toronto, house branded hammer shotgun.

Horilka

Horilka

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Charles Stark & Co. was a prominent Toronto-based retailer in the late 19th century, originally founded by Charles Stark—an English émigré to North America—who transitioned from jewellery into firearm retailing. By the early 1880s, the company had become one of Canada’s leading gun sellers, famed for its richly illustrated, mail-order catalogues that predated and even outshone early publications by competitors like Eaton’s. He also made a lot of efforts in popularization of firearm sports in Canada.
When I read about the story of this business operating out of Toronto (where I live) I thought I can't pass this gun. Also helped the fact that I could not find any references to Chas Stark house branded shotguns and I like odd and uncommon things.

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This is how it arrived, no cleaning yet. Smooth and tight. Front bead has an "improvement", however I hope it was installed on top of original bead. The only other "loss" is something ground off flats, probably SIN number of one of the owners.
Shotgun itself turned out to be Belgian made 12ga, Damascus barrels. Matching numbers on flats and barrel, no serial on forend. Shotgun markings don't allow me to date it. However Chass Stark started having financial troubles in 1892, died in 1899 and business closed in 1905, so I assume it is post 1887 (absent in 1887 catalogue) and pre-1892.

There's a great article about this company where I got all this information - https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/onhistory/2022-v114-n1-onhistory06907/1088106ar.pdf

I think this is the only Chas Stark catalogue (1887) available online - https://archive.org/details/charlesstarkcomp00char/mode/2up





















 
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If I were asked to guess, I would have thought it English. The care to fitment and wood selection for the stock is not something I've ever seen with a Belgium made side by side fowler. What a wonderful shotgun. I'm amazed at the lack of shrinkage in the woods. Once cleaned (I really hope that case hardening comes back), get the conservators wax out and seal it, inside and out.
 
Painkillers said:
If I were asked to guess, I would have thought it English. The care to fitment and wood selection for the stock is not something I've ever seen with a Belgium made side by side fowler. What a wonderful shotgun. I'm amazed at the lack of shrinkage in the woods. Once cleaned (I really hope that case hardening comes back), get the conservators wax out and seal it, inside and out.
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The stock grip and the hammers however, positively mark it a Belgian gun.
I have seen some very high end work come out of Belgium, but for the most part, yes, most of the guns we see were lower end "hardware store" guns
 
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iron cat said:
The 12over C in the diamond is a black powder proof mark between 1898 and 1924, the choke designation was used also from 1898 to 1924.
Nice old gun.
Cat
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That certainly narrows the date down. Somewhere between 1898-1905. If there's no choke designation...early 1898 would be the year?
 
Proof marks on the barrel flats and water table definitely identify it as a Belgian-made gun. Quite a few samples of these around. Sold under various names. Stark, included.
 
Alex McKr said:
Proof marks on the barrel flats and water table definitely identify it as a Belgian-made gun. Quite a few samples of these around. Sold under various names. Stark, included.
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I would appreciate it if you could point me to pictures of other ‘Chas Stark’ branded shotguns, so that I can study and compare them. I’m sure it shouldn’t be a problem, as there are quite a few around.
 
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Horilka: Where did I state that there were a lot of Stark-branded guns around? I identified your gun as Belgian made. According to the proof marks. That's it. Perhaps you should re-read what I wrote again. Particularly, the sentence : "Sold under various names".
If you do a quick Google search, you'll likely turn up a few examples. In this case, you happened across one sold under the Stark banner. Does that clear up any confusion of yours?
 
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Alex McKr said:
Horilka: Where did I state that there were a lot of Stark-branded guns around? I identified your gun as Belgian made. According to the proof marks. Nothing more. Perhaps you should re-read what I wrote again. Particularly, the sentence" : "Sold under various names". A number of brands of Belgian-made guns were sold during the late 19th and early 20th century. Usually house brands. If you do a quick Google search, you'll likely turn up a few examples. In this case, you happened across one sold under the Stark banner. Does that clear up any confusion of yours?
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Sorry for the misunderstanding — that’s how I read your comment: "Quite a few samples of these around. Sold under various names. Stark, included." It sounded to me like you’re saying there are multiple Stark branded guns around, not just Belgian trade guns in general. I was hoping to find more specifically about Stark-branded guns, thought I missed something in my research.
I know about "Belgian" shotguns, ranging from hardware store grade to some exquisite examples. I'm also know that without Belgian barrels US shotgun industry would not get a hot start back in time. That includes L.C. Smith / Hunter Arms, Ithaca, Baker, Lefever. Remington and Colt are also on this list if I'm not mistaken.
 
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