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Beautiful gun but what is pyro oxide? Is that another name for charcoal bluing?

'Pyro-Oxidized Black' was introduced with the Black Diamond Grade No. 55 in 1908



The No. 20 Simplex first had case hardened lockplates, but I believe later the same process which I've never seen described.

Drew, that is a good find. Thank you.

You're welcome Daryl. Not sure where I got that
Rod & Gun in Canada was a gold mine of Tobin advertising

Not positive, but, it may have been the hot version of black oxide:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_oxide

I bought a black diamond 12 gauge from our own John Mann, longer ago than I care to remember. It was a durable finish, unlike the cold version of black oxide. A friend still owns that gun.

Best,
Ted

That Black Diamond Model sheet is from my Tobin catalog collection --



My 12-gauge Black Diamond --



The Black Diamond was the first Tobin I got. Found it at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds gun show in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1988. That gun and the Tobin ads I was finding while researching things Fox at the Library of Congress and feeding the info to McIntosh for "The Finest Book in the World" as Headrick nicknamed it led me down the Tobin rabbit hole!!

That is an awfully nice Tobin. It is really difficult to find guns like that.

Seven or so years later Baker Gun & Forging Co. replaced their color case hardened frame and lockplates Batavia line with the black oxide finished Black Beauty --



and Black Beauty Special --



In 1932 Savage gave the black finish a try when they introduced their SP-/SPE-Grade Ansley H. Fox guns --

That black oxide treatment on Bakers was from the 1913 to 1919 period. Then , after Baker sold the gun making part of their business to Folsom in 1919, the black oxide treatment was used on the grades above the Batavia Leader. Those grades using the black oxide , or similar, were the Black Beauty Special, a few single barrel trap guns , Paragon ,and the DeLuxe. As I recall the Expert was advertised that way, but I have never seen an example.