1928 Lithgow No1 MkIII*

[nijalninja]

I may not have the best eyes but check out the charger bridge on the pic with the RHS of the wrist in view; at the top I can see 4 little crescents that could most certainly be the bottom of a "JJCO" stamp, and it even looks like the same font as my rifle with this mark, and then under that is "NY, NJ .303". If I remember right that is where John Jovinco did the deed with these US living Australian born Lithgows.

[Cheese Noodles]

a 28 would be MA, not a shield

OK, what does the MA vs shield refer to? I will also hence forth state it is a 1923 Lithgow. I do appreciate the knowledge of the forum members.

[Bindi2]

In 1926 Lithgow changed from a shield to the MA stamp

[capt14k]

I may not have the best eyes but check out the charger bridge on the pic with the RHS of the wrist in view; at the top I can see 4 little crescents that could most certainly be the bottom of a "JJCO" stamp, and it even looks like the same font as my rifle with this mark, and then under that is "NY, NJ .303". If I remember right that is where John Jovinco did the deed with these US living Australian born Lithgows.

So a possible JJCO put together?

[Paul S.]

Lovely. I suspect it has Jovino import marks on it somewhere.

I may not have the best eyes but check out the charger bridge on the pic with the RHS of the wrist in view; at the top I can see 4 little crescents that could most certainly be the bottom of a "JJCO" stamp, and it even looks like the same font as my rifle with this mark, and then under that is "NY, NJ .303". If I remember right that is where John Jovinco did the deed with these US living Australian born Lithgows.

Called it. As obvious as dog's B*****ks. It was just too nicely finished, and the furniture was unblemished and nearly naked of BLO.

[Homer]

Yes they are not terribly hard to identify

[capt14k]

At least they are well known. The Grey Blanket sold a put together JJCO Lithgow .22 recently and it only went for around $400. Granted the buyer thought he got a steal. Didn't they sell in England at one time for 2,000€?

[Brian Dick]

Remember that not all Jovino imports were assembled from parts in Brooklyn, NY. They imported thousands of complete, original Lithgow Mk.III and III* rifles too. I've had hundreds through here and there were some real beauties. Always look for the distinct Australian markings on the right hand side of the buttstock. The ones that are plain and unmarked like the OP's rifle are suspect but not all. It gets hard to determine unless the rifle is in hand.

---------- Post added at 01:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:42 PM ----------

Correction: there's no picture of the markings on the stock which tell the tale but the OP says they are there.