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Sweep,

I sent you a PM with my email address. I can post those for you.


Rich,

Thanks. A lot of standard proof marks, the * over O is the controller's id. The first pic has the barrel makers stamp. I believe it may be L. Drion, a small maker out of Herstal. However, that is only a guess.

Pete

Here are the pictures from sweep of his Metropolitan:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.


I can tell you that it was proofed as a 12ga in Belgium some time between 1898 and 1924. That it was only proofed for Black Powder. The stock carving was a common decoration on Belgian guns of the era.

Pete

RD ----- I would like to borrow the remains of that butt stock and forend to go by on a project gun. What are the chances of getting them ? Ken

The Belgian Metropolitan doubles that I've seen were of Peiper descent. Dead nuts ringer to the Jennsen Interchangable.

Robert:
I think we can agree that if the Metropolitan is the twin of the Interchangable, it is a mediocre product at best.
They were not JABCs but a few steps up.
It amuses me to think that if any of these carved stocked guns were shipped to the States, and expected to bring an influx of orders, the senders were sorely disappointed. This was not then and not now to the American taste. Perhaps in the Milwaukee and Texas hill country men of German extraction would be impressed but I feel that few were.
The rest of the gun buying public wanted tools and the embellishment of stocks with such Germanic carving was way over the top.
Best,
John

Seems to me that a Belgian maker that went by the trade name "Wilmont" specialized in these carved stock guns. (not to be confused with Liege makers Wilmart or Wilket)

You are right on but I do not remember that any were so marked
The only one that I remember well was one that had glass eyes in the animal that was carved in the butt.
Neat but not to my taste.
Best,
John

The carving on this stock is very similar to the gun shown in the Sears 1906 catalog, page 140. That gun sold for $10.99 in the catalog. The barrels and engraving do not match that gun.

It does not appear in the 1908 catalog, by that time Sears was heavily marketing A.J. Aubrey guns.

In the "Art of Gun Engraving" by Claude Gaier and Pietro Sabatti, some mention is made of stock carving as a form of decoration. Examples from most European countries are shown, mostly from the late 1600's through to the late 1800's when it seems to have fallen from fashion for high end firearms.

Take a good look at photo #7 above. My question is, "Does this gun have true damascus barrels or is there something else going on?"

Pete

My cousin has a similarly carved Liege rabbit eared double marked "Moore"...another Pieper based trade name..

PeteM,
Given the period and what we know about the Liege double industry, my guess is; that it is genuine damascus (crolle type)...it's the damascus Schilling linked in post #2 by John Mann, that I would like to know more about. Is that re-twisted wootz or Rigby damacus?..I've seen it labeled "silver damascus", I assume because so much of the black was etched away...
My guess is Rigby horseshoe twist (based solely on observations of early Joseph Harkoms and an English Mortimer)...but how it got to Schilling, I can only guess. Is there a general consensus of what this type damascus/twist steel this is?

Napoleon liked those stocks [img][/img]