I bought these stocks sometime last year on eBay, advertised as Ropers. As you can see, they do have some Roper characteristics….
At first I didn’t think they were Ropers, but just another one of the unknown talented stock makers of yesteryear with similar style. But the more I looked at them, there were a few things about them that were very Roper-Like, among a few things that were very Un-Roper-like. It was then, that I remembered seeing some very similar stocks posted by Club Gun Fan (Don Mundell) some time before. He had purchased (2) sets of these same type of stocks at a gun show, and had a pair (lent to him I suppose?) that were owned by Peter deRose which were also the same AND came in the original shipping box bearing “W. F. Roper” at the heading of the return address! Having seen Walter’s handwriting and signature on drawings from his book, and also on some S&W Factory letterhead (Walter was a former S&W employee), it seems to me that he himself wrote the label! Also, this week on the forum, another set of these stocks has surfaced; forum member SG-688 posted a beautiful Maple set made for a Colt.
Here is a link to Don's thread;
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...498-big-e-gun-show-very-good-me-part-2-a.html
Here are Don’s sets and the boxed set (sorry I don’t have shots from all angles of these sets but maybe Don can take some more photo's for us?)
The Colt Set
All of these style of stocks that have surfaced so far have had thumbrests, palmswells, a distinct inletting pattern, and a similar overall shape.
Each set of stocks have inletting that extends very low at the top area of the grip-frame near where the top of the front strap would meet.
Don and Peter's Sets
My Set
The Colt Set
Now, for things that are very Roper-like. 1) on the checkered examples, on a few of these sets, there is a diamond present around the screw escutcheon on the right-hand panel. 2) the checkering border on either panel is generally a very curvy pattern resembling the Roper look. 3) Some of the thumbrests have had lines carved in them for increased grip, just like many vintage pairs have had. 4) Although not as ornately formed, these stocks also have the small “lip” at the front of the stock that leads you right into the trigger guard. 5) This is not evident on every set but on the set I own, the escutcheons are exactly the same as one of the few different styles used on Ropers; the hardware is black in color and is thicker walled on the left-hand grip escutcheon. Perhaps there was some left-over hardware that was used up before switching to the hardware seen on the other examples? 6) A few of these examples have the revolver model and, in one case, the serial number (if fitted to a specific gun) penciled on the back of the grip panels, very similar to many sets of Ropers which have been seen penciled or carved or both penciled and carved. You might say, “well anybody could do that” and you would be correct but coupled with the other clues it’s yet another link to Roper.
Most of these similarities can be seen in the pictures above, below I have included some comparison pictures of examples 5) and 6) compared to authentic Ropers.
5) The dark escutcheons
My Set
A few original sets in my collection
6) The penciled/carved writing
The following Un-Roper-Like traits don’t necessarily ID these as not being Roper, but these are the characteristics we are accustomed to looking for in ID’ing a set of Vintage Ropers. These stocks do not have the following; lack of a ribbon pattern through the checkering on either side, the checkering is subpar compared to older Ropers, no jig marks, and no relief for Pre-War (Domed) upper sideplate screw (which is indicative of the time period these were produced).
The lack of the ribbon pattern is not a big red flag, but it is a common similarity between most Ropers. But, as most of us are aware there were fully checkered stocks offered that lacked the ribbon pattern, and there are many examples in collections today.
The lack of jig marks and the subpar checkering are more than likely due to a new checkering process that used another way to secure the stock blank, OR a different/new stockmaker. Some of you may be aware that there were also “Machine Checkered Ropers” that were a cheaper offering than the standard hand carved option. I suppose the sets in question could be those but most (all?) of those I have seen also had Walter Ropers initials machined into the back of one of the grip panels, where these do not, and the checkering on these just doesn’t look neat enough to be machine-done.
Here are some pictures of a set of automatic Machine Checkered Ropers; originally posted by skilled in post #56 in the below thread.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/366252-k-frame-ropers-2.html
The lack of the Pre War domed sideplate screw relief tells us these stocks were produced after 1946, with the introduction of the (post war style) magna stock when flat head upper sideplate screws started to appear, and up into the 1954 when Roper passed away. Although we do see this thread where Mathias Gagne is producing stocks several months after Roper’s death.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-fans-article-now-added-thanks-mr-wilson.html
All in all, these stocks are VERY interesting to say the least and with all the similarities and the shipping box bearing Roper’s name being the BIG connecting link, there is no doubt there is a Roper connection here.
I welcome your comments and would love to see if maybe there are a few more pairs hanging around here somewhere
At first I didn’t think they were Ropers, but just another one of the unknown talented stock makers of yesteryear with similar style. But the more I looked at them, there were a few things about them that were very Roper-Like, among a few things that were very Un-Roper-like. It was then, that I remembered seeing some very similar stocks posted by Club Gun Fan (Don Mundell) some time before. He had purchased (2) sets of these same type of stocks at a gun show, and had a pair (lent to him I suppose?) that were owned by Peter deRose which were also the same AND came in the original shipping box bearing “W. F. Roper” at the heading of the return address! Having seen Walter’s handwriting and signature on drawings from his book, and also on some S&W Factory letterhead (Walter was a former S&W employee), it seems to me that he himself wrote the label! Also, this week on the forum, another set of these stocks has surfaced; forum member SG-688 posted a beautiful Maple set made for a Colt.
Here is a link to Don's thread;
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...498-big-e-gun-show-very-good-me-part-2-a.html
Here are Don’s sets and the boxed set (sorry I don’t have shots from all angles of these sets but maybe Don can take some more photo's for us?)
The Colt Set
All of these style of stocks that have surfaced so far have had thumbrests, palmswells, a distinct inletting pattern, and a similar overall shape.
Each set of stocks have inletting that extends very low at the top area of the grip-frame near where the top of the front strap would meet.
Don and Peter's Sets
My Set
The Colt Set
Now, for things that are very Roper-like. 1) on the checkered examples, on a few of these sets, there is a diamond present around the screw escutcheon on the right-hand panel. 2) the checkering border on either panel is generally a very curvy pattern resembling the Roper look. 3) Some of the thumbrests have had lines carved in them for increased grip, just like many vintage pairs have had. 4) Although not as ornately formed, these stocks also have the small “lip” at the front of the stock that leads you right into the trigger guard. 5) This is not evident on every set but on the set I own, the escutcheons are exactly the same as one of the few different styles used on Ropers; the hardware is black in color and is thicker walled on the left-hand grip escutcheon. Perhaps there was some left-over hardware that was used up before switching to the hardware seen on the other examples? 6) A few of these examples have the revolver model and, in one case, the serial number (if fitted to a specific gun) penciled on the back of the grip panels, very similar to many sets of Ropers which have been seen penciled or carved or both penciled and carved. You might say, “well anybody could do that” and you would be correct but coupled with the other clues it’s yet another link to Roper.
Most of these similarities can be seen in the pictures above, below I have included some comparison pictures of examples 5) and 6) compared to authentic Ropers.
5) The dark escutcheons
My Set
A few original sets in my collection
6) The penciled/carved writing
The following Un-Roper-Like traits don’t necessarily ID these as not being Roper, but these are the characteristics we are accustomed to looking for in ID’ing a set of Vintage Ropers. These stocks do not have the following; lack of a ribbon pattern through the checkering on either side, the checkering is subpar compared to older Ropers, no jig marks, and no relief for Pre-War (Domed) upper sideplate screw (which is indicative of the time period these were produced).
The lack of the ribbon pattern is not a big red flag, but it is a common similarity between most Ropers. But, as most of us are aware there were fully checkered stocks offered that lacked the ribbon pattern, and there are many examples in collections today.
The lack of jig marks and the subpar checkering are more than likely due to a new checkering process that used another way to secure the stock blank, OR a different/new stockmaker. Some of you may be aware that there were also “Machine Checkered Ropers” that were a cheaper offering than the standard hand carved option. I suppose the sets in question could be those but most (all?) of those I have seen also had Walter Ropers initials machined into the back of one of the grip panels, where these do not, and the checkering on these just doesn’t look neat enough to be machine-done.
Here are some pictures of a set of automatic Machine Checkered Ropers; originally posted by skilled in post #56 in the below thread.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/366252-k-frame-ropers-2.html
The lack of the Pre War domed sideplate screw relief tells us these stocks were produced after 1946, with the introduction of the (post war style) magna stock when flat head upper sideplate screws started to appear, and up into the 1954 when Roper passed away. Although we do see this thread where Mathias Gagne is producing stocks several months after Roper’s death.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-ha...-fans-article-now-added-thanks-mr-wilson.html
All in all, these stocks are VERY interesting to say the least and with all the similarities and the shipping box bearing Roper’s name being the BIG connecting link, there is no doubt there is a Roper connection here.
I welcome your comments and would love to see if maybe there are a few more pairs hanging around here somewhere
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