I guess I have the same affliction, at least to some extent. I have some early high grade Ithaca doubles that, if they were field grade guns, I never would have bought in the first place. One is shimmed, another the toplever does not stay to the right when the gun is open, and a couple have some oil soaking andor small cracks in the head of the stock as well as checkering worn to the point to where it's almost gone. But the engraving is still as beautiful as new. I can't help but think back to what a different time and world the engravers who did this work lived in. I can still hold and enjoy part of that world that will never be again.
