There is more than one sort of needle in the haystack. So many Winchester m12 collectors are on guard against aftermarket mods and adulterated and composed guns in the WS-1,WS-2 line that they have no use for a steam-whistle gun, no matter how minty, that is exactly as Winchester intended it to be. Looks to me like an entry point for those who want to follow the perennial admonition to buy low and wait. This kind of "on the outside looking in" luck has come to me at least twice. I also have a Flues 4e with a swamped rib and short rib ramps in the French mode. It's mentioned and illustrated in Walt Snyder's Ithaca from the day dot book. When I queried Walt about desirability, he told me that it's not common but "nobody knows about it." Apparently rarity is a nonstarter as a collector parameter unless it's been arificially induced by remuddling of a popular and well-known variant.
