H D Folsom revived the Batavia Leader name but with steel barrels like the old Batavia Special.It is marked Baker Gun Company-Batavia N.Y.
At end of gun stock is a logo B superimposed with a C and then superimposed with a T.-I assume it means Baker Co. Barrel is 32 in. (twist barrels I believe) Unable to find year. Baker was dead before any of the sidelock hammerless Baker doubles built in Batavia saw the light of day. Even the trigger-plate hammer gun built first in Syracuse and then later in Batavia was designed by A.C. McFarland, Patent No. Oct. 4, 1887. When the plant in Syracuse burned and they moved operations to Batavia, W.H. Baker was ill with TB and they brought in Frank A. Hollenbeck had three patents granted while he was in Batavia and two are assigned to the Baker Gun Forging Co. From your brief description it sounds like you have a Baker B-grade. The Baker Gun Quarterly, Volume 5, No. May 1900 -- At this date they only appeared to offer 5 guns -- Model 1897 hammer gun with twist barrels 25 net, Model 1897 Hammer gun with Damascus barrels 27.80 net, the B-Grade with London Damascus twist barrels for 35 net, the A-Grade with Fine Four-Blade Damascus barrels 42.75 net, and the Paragon Grade with fine four-blade Damascus barrels with extra fine figure 60 net. There is a half a sentence that eludes to higher priced guns built to special order. They state that they introduced the Paragon about two years ago, but have been so busy with the lower priced guns that they havent devoted the time and energy they should have in bringing it to the notice of the shooting public. They state that they do not have any Paragon Grade guns in stock and all are made to order requiring 4 to 8 weeks. They state that the normal engraving is scroll, dogs, and game; but could be all scroll, scroll and dogs or scroll and game. There is some interesting text about the engraving on the B- and A-grades. The cut of the Baker hammerless gun as shown here was made from one of the regular B grade guns picked from our stock on hand and is a fair sample of the engraving we put on these guns. So, looks like when they went into inventory to get the gauge, barrel length and stock dimensions you wanted the engraving was a crap shoot. The Batavia guns were the low priced or field grade models of the Baker Gun Forging Co. To reduce costs the Batavia line did not have the firing pin block safety or the draw block which passes transversely through the barrel lug and mates into recesses in the frame, of the graded Baker hammerless guns and the Model 1897 hammer gun. After WW-I with the rise of repeaters Baker sold their gun business to HD Folsom Co. Folsom added the 20-gauge to the Baker line that they produced. Folsom-made Baker guns normally have an F before or after the serial number. In the very last Baker ads that Ive found in old sporting magazines from April and May 1928, and October 1929, Folsom also offered a 410-bore Batavia Leader, though Ive never seen one. From a 1909 copy of The Baker Gunner -- The Batavia Leader had twist barrels and listed at 25 -- The Batavia Special had steel barrels and listed at 21.75 -- The Batavia Damascus had Damascus barrels and listed at 28 -- and, finally the Batavia Brush had 26-inch twist barrels and a straight-grip stock listing at 24 and offered swivels and a sling as an option for 3. There was also a Batavia Ejector that listed at 35 with steel barrels and 37.50 with Damascus barrels.
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