Winchester Model 1897 Possible Capone Gun

My father in law passed on to me an old Winchester 1897 Shotgun. It shows wear and storage age. The serial number is C 160256. He purchased it at an estate sale for $75 over 10 years ago. When he bought it the seller told a story that it was part of Al Capones old collection. I have no way of knowing or finding out the validity of this but it is a nice looking gun. I was wondering if getting it refinished would be worth it and a possible value? I don't think it is more than a 50% right now.

hello ,,well i really don't know if a capone gun would have any regestration to him..lol..lol.but the cody museum does research for a fee ,,as for refinishing it ,,would you restore the bullet riddled car from bonnie and clyde ? i wouldn't.. with the history behind it ,,so if you can put al capones hands on it some time in it's lifetime why would you want to take his fingerprints off of it ,,lol,,leave it alone and keep it original ,,if it is a historical gun used by al capone it would ruin the value and all you would have is a pretty shotgun thats 100+ years old,,from the serial number it was made in 1901,,and something that old will show wear,,and not look new!!just my 2 cents worth and it's your shotgun to do as you wish..value without seeing it would proably be around 350-500..but if you can put history behind who knows what it may bring at auction or to a collector,,refinished i'd say unless you spend a pile and have it correctly done would not increase the value and would possibly decrease it to a vintage winchester collector,,and loose the provanance of possibly being handled by the notorious al capone!!
bigcurt

Thanks for the help. I do not plan on restoring it. I actually like the old look to it. I will check the cody museum though. Also I have a Winchester Model 1912 with serial number 109583. This one is in better shape and still may have a few shots left in it.