Nice gun Mark, clearly a Birmingham best gun.
My thoughts/speculation on the Williams business are as follows:-
The statement,"American Gun and Cycle Works." seen on the origional building exterior of The F.Williams works, together with the early examples of Williams guns suggests that in the first instance, F.Williams was focused on manufacturing sound,low cost guns,likely with the export market in mind.
In later years it is apparent from guns such as yours, that the range of guns made by Williams guns moved upscale.This may well have resulted from the steep increase in U.S.A. import tarriffs that occured during the late 1800,s[Taft Hartley act]. This act had a negative impact on gun exports from Britain.This factor and/or a change in ownership/management at Williams likely resulted in an expansion of the range guns made in order to appeal to wider range of potential U.K. customers.
