I cannot figure out the Hollis Bentley and Playfair numbering systems. I had two of their very highly engraved sidelocks that were nearly identical. One was numbered in 4 digits and the other in the 88,000 range. The company did have a London address, so maybe during that relatively short period the London serial numbers were in a separate group.
Your thought about Bentley and Playfair, later in ca. 1911 with Hollis, seems correct to me. Bentley and Playfair made guns 60 years before the amalgamation for many makers as well as a few with their own brand. Their catalog describes themselves as makers to the trade and gives prices for many gun mechanical and decoration styles, in various states of finish, to be sold , and/or finished up, by others.
| 