Navy Ithaca

[Johnny Peppers]

Ithaca shipped to Officer in Charge, Naval Supply Depot, Oakland, California, May 24, 1944.
Box, fake as a $3 bill.

Information

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[hink441]

JP, thats a great looking Ithaca. Is that the way the original mags were wrapped and shipped? Thanks Chris.

[Johnny Peppers]

No. That was just in the box and I left it. In fact I eased the wrapping back to see what magazine it was, and it is an arsenal refurbished magazine with a phosphate finish. The two original magazines as packed with the pistols were wrapped in a single wrap. The single wrapped magazines were field replacements.

[Reaper6]

How do you tell if a box is fake?

[Johnny Peppers]

A small book could be written on all the fake boxes, but on that particular box the makers logo was stamped in the bottom of the box, and had been scratched off. Also, that is not the type box used by Ithaca. The top lid of the original Ithaca shipping box was only half as deep as the bottom. The original ink stamping on the Ithaca box was a red/purple color and faded badly.
This one was bought off a list before the days of the internet, so I was going by the seller's description with no pictures. It was the first Ithaca box I had seen, so I had nothing to go on to tell if it was original or not. Also, it was bought about 25 years ago, and the price of the Ithaca with the box was only $300. After I found out the box was fake I kept is as a storage box, and as a reminder of the fakery out there.
The box was a Protecta-Gun storage box, which comes in a variety of sizes, but that one just happens to be almost exactly the same size of the original boxes. I talked with the guy that sells them, and he said he had been repeatedly approached about selling the boxes without the logo, but knew why they wanted the logo left off.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

Your Ithaca looks awesome Johnny!
They don't come much better than that.

[Johnny Peppers]

Thanks. Also at the time the shipping records for Ithaca had not been found, so it was much later that I found out it was Navy shipped.

[TerryS]

Prior to us having a national currency, ca 1862/63, private, regional and state banks issued currency. The $3 bill was very common.

[Johnny Peppers]

Prior to us having a national currency, ca 1862/63, private, regional and state banks issued currency. The $3 bill was very common.

True, but the privately issued currency was noted for being unreliable. If the issuer went busted, burned down, or just left town, the currency was worthless.

[sakorick]

Very very nice! Fakes are everywhere.....never considered a box could be fake. I've seen K98's so fake it would make your head spin. Fake WaA's, death heads, matching SN's in the wrong font, incorrect stocks.....you name it. Thanks for a informative post. Regards, Rick.