Help with a WW Greener valuation

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halfdar

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Howdy folks.

I have another minor puzzle for the Membership. My friend also has a WW Greener shotgun, for which we are seeking some kind of value. I have some details to share, as well as pictures.

To begin, this particular device is marked with 'The Trap Gun 68 Haymarket London' atop the strip between the 26-in barrels. We suspect that these barrels are similarly choked, which would make sense on a trap gun (we think they are FULL, in fact). They exhibit most of the original browning.

The gun is ten gauge, black powder, with twist (?) barrels. Double hammers, double triggers, and nearly black walnut stocks. The forend has what we think is an ebony tip. Unfortunately, the pistol grip was broken completely in half, during a dreadful series of choices involving a skunk that refused to die. The offending user happened to be a woodworker, so he graciously put the two pieces back together and secured them with three brass strips which were inlaid into the wood. This event apparently took place in the 1920s.

The receiver is mainly covered in very fine engraving, including a rather fetching shield device on either end of the hinge pin.

I am assured that a dozen pictures may be found here: http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/halfdar/library/?sort=3&page=1. Since this is my first experience with a hosting service, issues may be PM'd to me and I will resolve in some way.

Thanks in advance for any expertise offered.

ETA: That piece of white stuff around the stock is T-tape. I thought to cover the SN, until I found that those numbers repeated on the receiver and barrels, so nice try. Ignore it.
 
Your barrels seem have been cut,I would investigate the choke designation further ,probably not full and full,bore condition not mentioned...tough on value

Stock broken and crudely repaired ,not an uncommon occurrence ,but again ,tough on value

from the pics ,there's not a super clean line between breech and frame possibly a touch loose? again a value killer .

Your close to right on the forend tip ,most likely horn same with the buttplate .

I personally don't think you have a high dollar item there ,10 gauges are hard to move ,short chambered as this likely is - harder again ,the given condition ...well you get the picture .

It was a fine gun in its day though, and likely a lot of history there for the owner .

I hope this helped some
 
Absolutely. It was difficult to photograph, and the bores are clean but overall the condition of this gun leaves a bit to be desired. Given its probable age, this is hardly surprising.

Thanks for your time.
 
I had a 10 gauge Greener "trap" model. At the time, I contacted Graham Greener about it. He told me the Trap model was made for North American export. Anyhow, their value is not high unless it is in as new original condition. Mine was in better condition than the one you have and I paid $350.00 for mine. I traded it a few years ago for a refinishing job on a set of damascus barrels I had. I know of a fellow who picked up a 12 gauge a couple of weeks ago for around $300.00 or less. Yours is basically a parts gun and would likely bring no more than $200.00 on a good day.
 
Thank you for this insight. I have taken the liberty of forwarding these things to the owner, although I suspect he was expecting this sort of response. Time has not been kind to this example of the gunmaker's art, as you so thoughtfully observe.

Have a good day.
 
I am going to go with $250 - $300 in this area for the reasons described above. I am not sure if the barrels have been cut or if the right barrel is a little loose near the muzzle. If choked, that should be stamped on the bottom of the barrels and could partly be indicated by pushing a tight wad down each barrel. If the resistance increases noticeably a couple of inches before the muzzle, it still must have some choke left.
The designation Trap Gun does not seem to apply to a specific design of action as I have owned one and seen two or three others with different locking methds. Also other models of Greeners had full chokes on both barrels, the bottom line being that I am puzzled about how Greener assigned model names to their guns. Some like the Facile Princeps and the Empire Gun had distinct actions while others like the Far Killer and the Trap Gun did not

cheers mooncoon
 
For a quick test,see if a dime will drop into either muzzle. If so it's not full choked. I'd be surprised if a 10 gauge "Trap" model from that era would have 26" barrels from the factory but ya never know.

Forget the dime test--I was thinking 12 gauge when I typed that.
 
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You're fortunate that the stock is screwed back onto the gun... I have a SxS Greener given to me, that would be gorgeous aside from the stock not being screwed back onto the rest of the gun, and being lost. I'll have to make one sometime to replace the broken stub still on the receiver, but all originality is already toast. I can't remember what model mine is. The only other problem I noted last I looked was the trigger guard somewhat damaged on account of it bridging over the break. {sigh}
 
gunsaholic said:
For a quick test,see if a dime will drop into either muzzle. If so it's not full choked. I'd be surprised if a 10 gauge "Trap" model from that era would have 26" barrels from the factory but ya never know.

Forget the dime test--I was thinking 12 gauge when I typed that.
Click to expand...

We tried with a nickel, and it would only go into the bores about one-third the way.
 
For a comparison, I have a JP Clabrough 10 gauge with damascus barrels around the same age. A nickel will only go in far enough to cover the year on the nickel. The word Canada above the year is completely visible. With a caliper, I get a reading of about .725-.730. That should be full choke assuming a 10 bore of .775 but I don't know how close my bores are to .775 as I don't have a gauge. Your bores may also be different.
 
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