Is the mark the same as the "plumbed coronet" over "W" or crown over "wheat sheaf" over "W" as found on rifles from the early 1860s by Manchester Ordnance and Rifle Company. I don't believe the River Sheaf, which from which Sheffield gets its name, runs anywhere near Manchester. The Sir William George Armstrong,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth , is an interesting lead but their ordnance companies were in competition until the merger circa 1900. Whitworth's patent was in 1874 and he displayed some prop. shafts and pistons at either the 1878 or 1889 French Expo. -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Exposition (France held one every 11 years in the latter part of the 19th Century) Also an advertisment in "On The Grampain Hills: Grouse and Ptarmigan Shooting, Deer Stalking, Salmon and Trout Fishing, &c." in 1882 by Whitehurst has Purdey offering longarms with Whitworth steel. On the topic of Purdey pigeon guns, what would the term "Hurlingham weight" infer?
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
