Lowell,
I agree with you, the London gun became famous and a world standard above all because it excelled in the field, amongst other things thanks to its mechanical supremacy, classical proportions and atractive finish. All this becuase affluent buyers, shrewd entrepeneurs and resourceful artisans came to a fruitful exchange in a properous industrial open society.
As any human instrument that becomes a sort of icon (like a swiss watch or a concert piano),the high end gun attracted much attention and study. Thus, it is expected to find all sorts of people and their legitimate interests touching the subject of the London style gun (not any more an English monopoly in my view). Hence, it also becomes a matter of pride (of production and ownership), desire of posession, market analysis, admiration, profit oportunity, collection and of research, depending very much on where you are standing. It is expected that some or most of these different angles arise in a forum like this.
