trw999,
Thanks, I sent the stock/receiver/engraved sidelocks home with the owner as I'm space limited in my gun room at present. I'll look closer at the engraving when next I've got it in hand. The man that has the gun now was cleaning out a storage container with the previous owner when they came across the gun in its current state of neglect. That persons family was originally from the Baltimore area during the time period you mention for the maker A T Baxter. Would you guess that a maker of "Trade Rifles" might stray into the realm of muzzle loading shotguns if the price were right? The family that originally owned the gun was pretty well healed, and eventually owned a large retail business here in Virginia. There is a double bar gold inlay on the top rib near where the hooks meet the receiver, and one round gold inlay on the each side of the tubes where the cap would sit. I'd guess that she was a pretty expensive piece in her day. I measured the bore diameter at muzzle with a skeets bore gauge, and recorded approximately .750" & .760", so I guess it is a 12 ga.
