marlinguy wrote on Oct 21^st, 2018 at 3:35pm:


It's certain he never suffered from an inferiority complex!

marlinguy wrote on Oct 21^st, 2018 at 3:37pm:


It really was not what people would think. Cameras at the time were available cheaper than most rifles. So if you could afford a custom rifle, you could afford a camera and the equipment to develop the photo. This ad is from 1905 and bottom line quality. $100 would have been top tier.
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All I’m saying is people with cameras have been a pain since they became affordable. If the the photo is Pope, posing for a customer makes as much sense as anything else, maybe more.

marlinguy wrote on Oct 21^st, 2018 at 5:08pm:


This mythical story has been repeated so many times that it's now acquired a life of its own.  For ex., Wikipedia's history of the Pope Mfg. Co. identifies Harry as having an engineering degree from MIT. And of course, anything you read on Wiki HAS to be true!

By the way, Jay Leno owns & rides a 1918 Pope motorcycle that's one of the highlights of his huge collection; it, & many other fabulous bikes, can be seen in action on Jay's You Tube channel.

My first wife's son was in the Automotive Restoration Program at McPherson College when Jay Leno made his first visit there.  Mr. Leno was impressed with the program - then the only such run by an accredited 4-year college - to the point that he endowed it heavily over the next few years.  But what was most important to a select group of McPherson students, my step-son included, was that he had them on Tonight where they talked cars and Leno shamelessly plugged McPherson; and the next day he gave them a personal tour of his collection.  The memories are still radiant over 20 years later.

Bill Lawrence

Dellet wrote on Oct 21^st, 2018 at 6:32pm:


True, but portrait photos like the above weren't done with a Brownie! And although there might be some slight possibility it could be Pope, it's more likely it isn't.

marlinguy wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2018 at 9:39am:


Has it been out of the frame to look for a photographer's name & possibly address?  Even if the photo was made by an amateur using his own camera, the negative would have to be taken to a pro for enlargement.   

Hello All !

First, thank you to all of you who have shared a thought or opinion of the photo.  Personally I don't think it's H.M. Pope no matter how much I would like it to be.

Redsetter: The second photo is of the photo itself removed from the frame.  There is no name, city, etc. written on the photo itself or even on the inside lip of the frame.  That was the only reason I removed the photo from the frame after nervously removing each nail holding it in on the backside.  I can't imagine replacing oval slightly dome glass is cheap (or possible).  The photo took on a slight curvature to the glass and cannot be scanned.  I don't know if the curvature is original and intentional of if so previous own stacked things on it.  The photo enlarged (Photo No.3) is as good as it gets.

The forearm does look very chunky.  ... and the buttstock looks non-factory Stevens also.  Granted it's not perfectly clear but the barrel doesn't show a front or rear barrel sight or open dovetails.  It could just be the angle, but the barrel looks heavy and shorter than 30"

Joe