Hmmm. At the time we were speaking with a fellow who felt it had been made that way for a left-handed shooter. He thought it would follow that the rib engraving would be the opposite direction also. Not so, it turns out.
I wondered about that explanation, and I checked when I got home... The Jones under-lever swings out in the usual direction (to the right, looking down the barrels). I do have a Jones-lever pinfire made for a left-hander, by Joseph Braddell & Son of Belfast, where the under-lever swings out in the other direction (it also has the ‘usual’ rib inscription). The Smith gun is unremarkable in every respect, except for the inverted text on the lock plates.
