Phil,

You say your 128 page Cornell copy has a 1903 date on the front cover.
Does your reprint have any additional 1903 dates contained anywhere on the inside pages of the catalog, in the advertisements, on the back cover, etc?

What is strange is that Cornell's site does not show a 128 page #50 1902 catalog.
Cornell does show a 142 page #50 1903 catalog.

The cover shown on the gunandswordcollector site doesn't have a 1903 date displayed on the front cover.
If the reprint shown on the gunandswordcollector site is the same as the R&R reprint, it will have 1902 on the spine, (also on the back cover, and in three more places on the inside pages), but not on the front cover, and it won't mention or illustrate the 44 1/2 action.

Considering price difference, and the 44 being designated for small calibers after the 44 1/2 was introduced, I don't think the 44 1/2's introduction hurt 44 sales anymore than Low Wall introduction affected High Wall sales. They just complimented each other.
I think Stevens' plan was to replace the 44 with the newly designed 44 1/2, but we all know how well that worked for them. 44 fans must have been chuckling when the 44 1/2 went away, and the 44 remained?

My 40-year collection of Stevens ephemera stretches from the mid-1870s to the 1920s.  Its mostly original, factory material in complete, undamaged condition, indeed, much of the post-1900 material is as-new and in original mailers.  UNFORTUNATELY, the most recent catalog I have on hand is the Catalog # 51 I’ve written about in this installment.  All the later material is stored in my way-off-site warehouse.

The second caveat is that in my opinion based on my experience, Cornell’s Stevens catalogs specifically cannot be trusted as to covers, date assignments, and sometimes even contents.

Now, on to BP’s post, in the order he presents the catalogs.

Catalog # 50, 1902, 128 pages; Stevens-Pope section, no mention of 44-1/2
This is the R& R reprint which I bought some 20 years ago and still consider to be a true reproduction of the original.

Catalog # 50, 1903, 142 pages; Stevens-Pope apparently not mentioned; complete 44-1/2 line
This Cornell publication has the same cover as the R&R reprint of # 50 with the 1903 date added.  It has the same content layout as my original late-1903 Catalog # 51 (Frost’s male hunter with dog cover) but is stated as being 6 pages longer.

Catalog # 51, 1904, 140 pages; Pope Barrels and Stevens-Pope sections; 44-1/2 full line
While I don’t accept the later-style cover - my experience is that the colored, illustrated covers form an unbroken if relatively short sequence - or the catalog number, Cornell may well have the date correct with the content a true reprint.  Some dismiss this catalog’s date because it’s been widely publicized that Pope left Stevens in 1903.  But in an interview published in the June, 1941 American Rifleman, Pope himself states that he left on December 31, 1905, only to wiped out in San Francisco on April 07, 1906.

Catalog # 51, 1905, 141 pages; Stevens-Pope section, “new action” mentioned
Other than “1905" being added, this Cornell cover is identical to that of my original (revised?)  Catalog # 51.  It’s a very complete posting of the Stevens line.  Coming right after the Model 44 section, the “New Action” is surely the 44-1/2.  My best guess is that this catalog’s date is actually early 1903 and that it’s the catalog that Red says my Catalog # 51 revises.

(continued)

Redsetter wrote on Oct 27^th, 2018 at 10:24am:


I would suspect you're correct. I think Stevens would have totally stopped high grade 44 models once they introduced the 44 1/2 action.

To quote from the one page devoted to the Model 44 in my Catalog # 51, while still offered in .25-20 Stevens C.F. and .32-20 C.F., "For special calibers and extras, see description of our 44-1/2 rifle ... an entirely new action."; "This rifle (Model 44) will not be fitted with double set triggers."; "No deviations from above specifications except as noted.", the "as noteds" being caliber, sights, barrel lengths, and a full-octagon barrel for $2.00 extra.

That was what they said.  But "Never say 'never'" the saying goes, so there were likely at least a few exceptions made for those "special" customers were willing to pay for it, pretty please.

Bill Lawrence

The "semi-military" Model 404 (both actions) is popularly believed to have been introduced in 1913.  I don't have my catalogs from that time-period at hand to check.

Bill Lawrence

Redsetter wrote on Oct 27^th, 2018 at 1:56pm:

The problem with a "hand-dated" 1912 is that the date could have been hand-written by Billy-Bob Dillwad, who had no association whatsoever with Stevens.
The original "GENERAL CATALOG No. 53" that I have, which shows the High Power and the 404, may have a type-set date provided by Stevens...   not on the cover, but found on what would be page 1, at the lower left-hand corner of the page, below the New York City and London Office addresses, is "9-1-12-75" ... not sure what the -75 suffix could be, but the 9-1-12 might (or might not) represent Sept 01, 1912.
If the catalog was created in late 1912, and wasn't sent out until the end of 1912, or beginning of 1913, then I'd lean toward Sharpe's date of introduction of the 404, and against Flayderman's, until a #52 catalog is found that definitively shows otherwise... that's my personal choice having been shown mistakes contained in Grant's books by others, and going by the "bird in the hand" #53 catalog.
Draw your own conclusion.
Regardless, this tangent doesn't help Phil to pin down the year of the introduction of the 44 /12 action.