I looked up the serial number and it was made in 1952, the first year FN started making them according to Browning's site.
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They were manufactured from the get-go (1903) by FN, but were marketed for sale overseas. Remington, and later Savage, had the manufacturing and marketing rights for the U.S. until 1951.
It has a buttplate that is stamped FN, but the rest is Browning.
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EVERY, and I mean EVERY, FN-produced Auto 5 had an FN-marked buttplate. Nothing significant here.
I noticed on some auction sites that they were advertising the "round knob" as more valuable, but I couldn't find anything else about it.
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Not more valuable. They had a round knob pistol grip with wrap around checkering until 1967 and then switched over to a flat knob pistol grip. Don't get sucked into paying a premium for that. There are more of the round knob guns out there anyway.
Well seeing as how they don't make them anymore and they are great shotguns, I guess the answer is as much as you want to. I have several and they are great shotguns. But as to the guns worth on the market it is worth about 500-600 dollars in the described condition.
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Negative. His gun has the older solid carrier vice the split carrier added around 1957. The cut barrel hurts the value, but the extra (assuming it is all original without a vile Polychoke or Cutts) offsets it somewhat. This gun is at the lower end of Browning Auto 5 values. About $350, give or take a little.
The last time they were sold, with invecter plus barrels (screw in chokes) they were going for about 700.00 dollars, the value can just go up they have stopped making them.
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Nope. I gave $624 for my Light 20 with Invector Plus in 1995. In 1998, I considered buying another Light 20 at Academy for $659. I wound up buying a Light 12 last year from a dealer in Indiana, NIB with Invector Plus, for $775. They're advertised quite regularly in Gun List 99% to NIB for $650 to near $800, depending upon condition, accessories, etc. The price isn't exactly escalating.