BOBB, I think you made the right decision. That gun, with wear and marks on it, will be the kind that get's the comment "oh the stories that could tell!"

The serial number and barrel stamped make it a pre-WWI gun so it's pushing 100 years old. The patent date is actually December 25, 1906 and that is the patent for the 1903 clip-magazine fed pump; much of the 1914 tube fed is the same and was still covered by that early patent. Later 1914's will have two additional patents on them that cover the changes for the tube magazine - those are the patents that were 'pending'. The Model 25, that replaced the 1914, is stamped with the same patents as the 1914 because it was basically just an improvement and not a new design.