Skip to main content
Help Center Community Shop

Comments

11 comments

Date Votes
  • Spider7115
    That's a beautiful rifle and well worth further research.

    Although the letter says "W.W. Fortune", the engraving is clearly "M.W. Fortune, Malone, NY" and not "W.W.".

    There's a Milton W. Fortune, 1860-1939, interred at Morningside Cemetery in Malone, NY. There's also Maurice William Fortune, 1904-1970, who was apparently Milton's son.

    http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frgen/franklin/malone/morningside/morningside_sectionh.htm

    Jefferson County marriage records show Milton to be a laundryman when he married Mina Witt on Sept. 27, 1897.

    As the rifle was shipped on Sept. 11, 1902, it was quite possibly a 5th anniversary gift for Milton.

    http://jefferson.nygenweb.net/tcclm95.htm

    As Malone is in a very rural area of Upstate NY, I wouldn't be surprised if there are still members of the Fortune family still residing in the area.
    0
  • Bert H.
    quote:Originally posted by gearheaddad
    What are your thoughts on this?
    Kind of interesting...........

    http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=196095981


    It is a very interesting Model 1894, and it is worth a decent wad of $$$$. Definitely a rifle to consider.
    0
  • GuvamintCheese
    quote:Originally posted by gearheaddad
    What are your thoughts on this?
    Kind of interesting...........

    http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=196095981

    Here is Milton W. Fortune of Malone NY. Spider beat me to it...[:(][:D]

    FORTUNE,MILTON W. 35 MALONE N.Y. LAUNDRYMAN (occupatin) He was married 27 SEPT 1897 in WATERTOWN NY... FORTUNE,ALEXANDER (his father) KERRY,ELIZABETH WITT( his mother),MINA E. 27 CHAUMONT NY (the bride) WITT,HENRY (Her father) STERNBERGH,MARGARET (Her mother)

    This Might be his mother born in Ohio in 1840 which puts her at 20 when she gave birth to Milton. http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=buchroeder&id=I101688525

    This means the Cody letter is wrong and should read M. W. fortune,as clearly engraved on the gun... not W.W. fortune

    pix593788260.jpg


    http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~frgen/franklin/malone/morningside/morningside_sectionh.htmMalone, NY.

    Malone NY.

    Milton W. FORTUNE 1860 - 1939
    Mina FORTUNE His Wife 1870 - 1962
    On the right side:
    Kate B. MOWRY Wife of M. W. FORTUNE 1857 - 1895
    On the back:
    Maurice William Sept. 7, 1904 - Dec. 18, 1970
    On the left side:
    Milton Witt Son of M. W. & M. E. FORTUNE 1901 - 1903
    Footstone: Milton
    Small Metal Marker
    Milton W. FORTUNE 1860 - 1939
    Footstone: Mate B.
    0
  • Spider7115
    quote:Originally posted by cartod
    quote:Originally posted by gearheaddad
    What are your thoughts on this?
    Kind of interesting...........

    http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=196095981

    Here is Milton W. Fortune of Malone NY. Bert beat me to it.


    Ahem! The name is "Spider". [:D]
    0
  • kimi
    Really neat old rifle connected to a man with Scot-Canadian heritage. According to information at this link, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hhenderson&id=I1661 his daddy was Alexander, and his grandfather was John.

    Spider's on the ball here!!!!!!!!!!!![:D][;)]
    0
  • GuvamintCheese
    The history on these ole workhorses is more fun than shootin em.


    Sometimes...[8D][:D]
    0
  • Spider7115
    quote:Originally posted by cartod
    The history on these ole workhorses is more fun than shootin em.


    Sometimes...[8D][:D]


    Yep, that's what my brother and I always loved about the antiques when we could research them. Malone is about 4 hours north of me. If I owned that rifle, I'd probably take a ride up there and try to find some Fortune family descendants or at least get as much info as I could about Milton.
    0
  • GuvamintCheese
    quote:Originally posted by Spider7115
    quote:Originally posted by cartod
    The history on these ole workhorses is more fun than shootin em.


    Sometimes...[8D][:D]


    Yep, that's what my brother and I always loved about the antiques when we could research them. Malone is about 4 hours north of me. If I owned that rifle, I'd probably take a ride up there and try to find some Fortune family descendants or at least get as much info as I could about Milton.
    Well then lets buy it, I will go half. [8D]....I tried but I despise resreve auctions. I see he has been trying to sell it for months....What is wrong with some sellers????? He must have somthing to hide!!!! [xx(][xx(][xx(]
    0
  • gearheaddad
    I e-mailed the seller, and his reserve is $4500.00
    Maybe that's why it's been for sale so long..........
    In the letter it calls for plain stocks, but those are checkered. And the pattern looks good. Am I missing something there? I need a '94 in 38-55, but I don't think that's a $4500.00 rifle especially in todays market.
    Thanks for all the input!
    Ed

    Thanks again for your input as always Bert. I love a '94 sporting rifle and being a 38-55 makes it awful tempting! I like all the special order features especially the half round and take down! It's a very cool gun and I have just the right spot for it!
    0
  • Bert H.
    Ed,

    My personal opinion is that the rifle is worth very very close to the reserve. The overall configuration of that Fancy Sporting Rifle is quite rare, as there were very very few "Rifles" that letter with a saddle ring.

    The 24-inch barrel is also relatively rare, and the fact that it is 1/2 octagon makes it rarer yet. To give you an idea of the rarity, there were 276,780 "Rifles" manufactured in the 1 - 353,999 serial number range. Of that number, just 1,661 were factory equipped with a 24-inch barrel. A much smaller number of them were 1/2 octagon (I do not know what the actual number is, but it is most likely less than 200 total).

    As for the checkered stocks not being specifically mentioned on the letter, that does not surprise me. In addition to the checkered stocks, the letter also does not mention the sling eyes. My bet is that both are actually listed in the ledger, but were missed by Howard Madaus when he looked up the serial number and wrote the letter. The typical notation in the ledgers for each feature is "CS" and "S&S", and with all of the other unusual features that are on that rifle, the ledger entry is without a doubt very "busy" (hard to read) and as such, it would be easy enough to overlook or miss the "CS" and "S&S". It certainly would not hurt to call Cody and ask them to look at the ledger closely.

    Summing it all up, that rifle has a large list of special order features, and it is essentially a "one-of-a-kind" Winchester;

    1. 24-inch barrel (one of only 1661 that will letter)
    2. 1/2 octagon barrel
    3. 1/2 magazine
    4. Take Down
    5. Sling ring (saddle ring)
    6. Checkered stocks
    7. Sling eys
    8. Engraved barrel
    9. Special sight
    10. Pistol grip
    0
  • kimi
    quote:Originally posted by kimi
    Really neat old rifle connected to a man with Scot-Canadian heritage. According to information at this link, http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hhenderson&id=I1661 his daddy was Alexander, and his grandfather was John.

    Spider's on the ball here!!!!!!!!!!!![:D][;)]


    It would be worth the trip that Spider mentioned just to talk to someone in his family with knowledge of the rifle being in their family, and maybe having them provide a hand written letter affirming such a visit along with some brief historical notes too.
    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Recent Activity