Somewhat related to your post, Lagopus, is an August Lebeau 12b. BLNE that I've shot for some years that 'letters' from the present-day Lebeau-Courally factory as having been ordered/started in 1914 and finally shipped to the client in South America in 1918. That individual requested his name be tastefully engraved on both sides of the frame prior to shipment, which it was. Would be nice to know the full stories behind such guns.