Gil:
i notice the checkering on your gun is not the skipline style i am familiar with on most MF. my ideal does have skipline style and i suspect your gun is of the same era (mid-late 1930's).

your original photos don't show checkering - so i'm curious if it was restored as original, or changed to conventional checkering during the renovation.

i don't particularly like the skipline, and would certainly like to have the "missing lines" filled in. your checkering pattern is quite handsome - as is the gun....
tom

"it's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
lewis carroll, Alice in Wonderland