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I have this Remington New Model n° 4 in caliber .41 CF (rarer than the .41 RF version) which has the famous "Remington ivory grips". These grips are famous because toward the end of the 1870's, Remington replaced the real ivory grips that they proposed as an option with fake ivory made with a celluloid material that they Called "Remington ivory".
But the problem was that they did not specify that this was fake ivory and they kept the same price than the real ivory grips ! Needless to say that the customers were very unhappy ! And what's more, this material was very easily flammable ! The back of the grips was reinforced with metallic plates.
Hard to tell from the photo, is that blue or nickel? The blue is very rare.
When you talk about the grips, you are accepting facts not proven, and without documentation. First, the faux ivory, or celluloid grips were first used in the 600 serial range of the Smoot No. 1 in 1875, so not toward the end of the 1870s. Pp 32-33 of Dr. Parker’s book on Smoots goes into detail about these grips. .I don’t know that I’d say the celluloid grips wre famous because celluloid was a new product in the 1870s, and a lot of companies used for a lot of things.
Celluloid is flammable, and cellulose is a component of gunpowder so it stands to reason that anything made from cellulose would be flammable, but who would put a pistol next to a flame? I’d be more concerned with their brittleness, which is why they have a steel backing plate.
You are right that Remington ads do not list the Rem-ivory grips, but they also don’t list wood grips, and both walnut and rosewood grips were available. We have no way of knowing how the dealers advertised them. Dr. Parker in his book says that it is misleading advertising, possible fraudulent advertising. Was it also misleading or fraudulent not to list th availability of wood grips? But without knowing how they were actually presented to the public we can’t say.
You also assume that the customers “...were very unhappy...” What do you base this on, the way you would feel? Do you have any documentation of how customers felt? Again, we don’t know how the dealers sold them, so we can’t say.
Yes, just the price for the Ivory was listed, but again, we don’t know how they were sold. Today you see items advertised at $XX, but the actual selling price will vary depending on many variables. We don’t know if it was the same in the 1870s and 1880s, but my guess would be that it was. Can you see a dealer telling a customer that he can have the look of ivory grips for a dollar less?
If you don’t have a copy of Dr. Parkers book, “A Study of Remington’s Smoot Patent & Number Four Revolvers,” you should get a copy. Lots of interesting info.
Daniel
First, my n° 4 is nickel plated. Also, I do have a copy of Dr. Parkers book, “A Study of Remington’s Smoot Patent & Number Four Revolvers”, and on page 32, I read :
It is also significant that the 1877 catalog and those that followed in 1883 did not distinguish in any manner the ivory-colored celluloid described above. The catalogs merely indicated "ivory" and "pearl" grips with no explantory comments offered. It seems misleading, event fraudulent, that Remington would offer a grip material mistaken for ivory without some explanation to the contrary in its sale litterature.
This is why I felt entitled to write that customers were very unhappy. And in fact, I did read that elsewhere but I don't remember exactly where.
Thanks for the info on the finish. Not many blue ones out there.
As to your statement about the cuetomers, when it comes to history and historical facts we should never make statements as true, or leading others to believe it's true unless it is true and backed by facts. 30 year ago there were no truth in advertising laws, and merchants made wild claims all the time. The world was "buyer beware."
Today many countries have some kind of advertising laws, probably not as comprehensive as they could be. Unless we find it in print, written at the time, we can imagine what people might have thought or said, be we can't say what they did or said, because we just don't know. That is how errors get passed down over the years, and soon they become taken as factual. That is why there is a lot of mis-information about guns, and many other things.
