Notes from the gun shop...

We had a good, busy day yesterday.  Did 4 transfers, sold a couple of guns via GunBroker.com, received payment for a couple of others, and saw some interesting guns come through the door.  However, we need prayers for Dwayne's father who was picked up by ambulance yesterday morning and transported to UVA.  He has some form of leukemia and was so severely dehydrated that his kidneys shut down.  Also, Lewis could use some prayer cover.  He left work soon after getting there.

A very nice Marlin Model 93 .30-30 rifle came in with 3/4 magazine and light, round tapered barrel was in there for transfer to a customer.  We bought a 1911 made Winchester 1894 SRC, also in .30 WCF.  Aside from the dirty bore and varnish on the stock, it was pretty nice.  Somebody had tried to remove the saddle ring, unsuccessfully, so there was a bit of a spread there.  Otherwise an interesting gun.  But that wasn't all as we'd bought 8 guns before 11:00 AM.

View of the water table...

One that I'm not fully knowledgeable on was a P. Webley & Sons, side-by-side, hammer, top-lever, damascus barreled 12 gauge shotgun.  Very nice condition.  Dating it seems to be problematic.  It must at the least pre-date 1897 as Webley merged with W & C Scott to become Webley and Scott in 1897.  It is marked P. Webley & Sons, St. James London on the rib.  I understand that the spurious St. James address went away in 1870 or so.  As you can see the water table has the Webley Scott trademark that was in use in 1922.  The SN is 24186.  I think it has the 2¼" chambers but didn't have the opportunity to measure them.  I'd like to find more information on these guns.  Prices seem to run from $250 to $3500 and I'm not sure how to decide how to price the gun.  Perhaps the question hinges on how the barrels are marked...

Barrel marks...

Now, these marks will look a bit different stamped in steel than as shown in the books but I believe we have the Birmingham definitive proofs for BP.  We also have the Webley and Scott trademark.  Now, why would that appear on a gun with supposedly pre-1870 marks (the P. Webley & Sons)?  The "choke" and "not for ball" marks would seem to date the gun post 1904.  There is so much additional info, after the "P. Webley & Sons" mark that I'm thinking this was a restoration done by Webley Scott.

P.S. A local expert in the field has determined that this gun is probably worth $3000-5000.  A similar gun listed on a website is asking $4500 but it is a 10-gauge and the condition doesn't seem to be as nice as this one.