The rarest or most interesting item

[Jazzy]

What is the rarest or most interesting item you own?

 

[Fritz Kobus]

I don't know if this is the most interesting item I own, but I find this very interesting and beautiful. Image off web but same as mine. Weighs about 20 pounds and rings like a bell (forged, not cast). I got it for free at a local VW Beetle shop and have it on a display stand where it can be turned like it would turn in the engine.

 

[tango]

I've got all sorts of curious things floating about the house, it's hard to choose the most interesting among them.

If I had to choose it would probably be an unusual ornament or one of many clocks. I have a clock my former next door neighbor asked me to look at, then when he and his wife parted ways he asked me if keeping the clock was an acceptable alternative to paying me to fix it. That was fine with me, so I've got a slightly odd French period clock.

 

[Jazzy]

My antique clock that looks exactly like the one in this video:

 

[Fritz Kobus]

My grandfather's 12 gauge shotgun that was purchased somewhere about the 1930s and will be handed down to my son. Image is not the actual gun but from an online search.

 

[tango]

My antique clock that looks exactly like the one in this video:

I have a clock that is almost exactly like that but in a slightly different case. It has a slightly hollow sounding strike. When I lived in a terraced house it sounded quite eerie from next door's living room.

 

[Jazzy]

My grandfather's 12 gauge shotgun that was purchased somewhere about the 1930s and will be handed down to my son. Image is not the actual gun but from an online search.

Ah, a Winchester pump-action shotgun. Is the one you have a 26" or a 32" barrel length? One last question: Is it still operational?

 

[Jazzy]

I have a clock that is almost exactly like that but in a slightly different case. It has a slightly hollow sounding strike. When I lived in a terraced house it sounded quite eerie from next door's living room.

The decorated intricately carved wood that resembles a gingerbread-style house is just so beautiful to me. Does yours chime on the half hour as well as on the hour like mine does?

 

[Fritz Kobus]

Ah, a Winchester pump-action shotgun. Is the one you have a 26" or a 32" barrel length? One last question: Is it still operational?

I get 30 inches from the front of the ejector port which is at the base of the shell when chambered. It is a Model 97. Notice the exposed hammer which has not been found on shotguns in decades. It fired fine the last time I shot it back in the 1980s. I plan to take it to the range this year and fire about 25 rounds through it. Mine is 12 gauge. The one in the image actually is 16 gauge. Grandpa harvested a number of deer with that gun.

 

[tango]

The decorated intricately carved wood that resembles a gingerbread-style house is just so beautiful to me. Does yours chime on the half hour as well as on the hour like mine does?

Yes, I think most clocks that strike the hour also strike the half-hour. If it has three trains (and three weights, or three winding holes) it will also chime on the quarter hour.

I believe some clocks with a single train will strike once on the hour. I've never seen such a clock myself - I only have a couple of single-train clocks and they tell the time without striking at all. One of them is pretty neat - I bought it from ebay from someone who bought it at an antique show only to get it home and find it didn't work. Rather than spend 30 seconds on Google looking up how to fix it he sold it very cheaply, and it took me less than 30 seconds to fix the problem with it when I got it home. When I've got more of my house finished it will probably emerge from the basement, although it will most likely need to be cleaned and serviced.

 

[Castle Church]

My grandfather's 12 gauge shotgun that was purchased somewhere about the 1930s and will be handed down to my son. Image is not the actual gun but from an online search.

Nice! my most prized firearm is a J.C Higgins 16 gauge bolt action that was my uncle's (not the recall one).

 

[Castle Church]

I think my personally most prized item is a coin minted in Judea during the Maccabee period. It is not particularly rare or expensive, but it means a lot to me.

 

[Jazzy]

. I plan to take it to the range this year and fire about 25 rounds through it.

How many shotgun shells does the magazine tube hold?

 

[Jazzy]

I think my personally most prized item is a coin minted in Judea during the Maccabee period. It is not particularly rare or expensive, but it means a lot to me.

Is it a silver drachma or some other type of coin?

 

[Jazzy]

a J.C Higgins 16 gauge bolt action

Does it have a Peep site?

 

[Jazzy]

it took me less than 30 seconds to fix the problem

What was the problem with the clock?

 

[tango]

What was the problem with the clock?

It was out of beat. If you set it level instead of a nice even tick...tock...tick...tock...tick...tock, you got something more like tick...........tock-tick.......tock-tick.......tock-tick.

The fix was to push the pendulum all the way to one side, then very gently push it a little further. Chances are the guy who sold it spent more time photographing it and listing it on ebay than it would have taken to look up the fix on Google. Either way I got myself a nice looking clock for very little money. It's sitting in the basement alongside a dozen others now, when I've got the house fixed up I'll have to find somewhere to put it.

 

[Fritz Kobus]

noon

How many shotgun shells does the magazine tube hold?

It is a 2&3/4 chamber. I can fit 5 shells in and the 6th one comes about a quarter-inch short of going all the way in. That good I guess as then with 5 in the tube we know the spring is not totally collapsed. Should help the spring retain its springiness. Of course, I don't keep it loaded.

Here I took a photo of it today:

Mine has much darker wood than the one I posted above. Otherwise very similar but for the gauge. Also mine has an adjustable sight just ahead of the hammer, which you can sort of see in the photo above. Here it is from the other side where the adjustment is:

 

[Jazzy]

It was out of beat. If you set it level instead of a nice even tick...tock...tick...tock...tick...tock, you got something more like tick...........tock-tick.......tock-tick.......tock-tick.

The fix was to push the pendulum all the way to one side, then very gently push it a little further. Chances are the guy who sold it spent more time photographing it and listing it on ebay than it would have taken to look up the fix on Google. Either way I got myself a nice looking clock for very little money. It's sitting in the basement alongside a dozen others now, when I've got the house fixed up I'll have to find somewhere to put it.

Good on you for getting this clock and fixing it yourself. May I ask if it's another Gingerbread Mantel Clock or some other type of clock?

 

[Jazzy]

noon

It is a 2&3/4 chamber. I can fit 5 shells in and the 6th one comes about a quarter-inch short of going all the way in. That good I guess as then with 5 in the tube we know the spring is not totally collapsed. Should help the spring retain its springiness. Of course, I don't keep it loaded.

Here I took a photo of it today:

Mine has much darker wood than the one I posted above. Otherwise very similar but for the gauge. Also mine has an adjustable sight just ahead of the hammer, which you can sort of see in the photo above. Here it is from the other side where the adjustment is:

What a beauty and thank you so much for taking the time to take pictures and post them. Just two more questions, if you don't mind:

1. Is it a solid frame or a takedown? (Hard for me to determine from the photo)

2. Can it be slam-fired?