doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Help Identifying Damascus

Canvasback notes that the barrels were "Nitro proofed from between 1905 and 1910 from my preliminary investigation." But what is the date the gun was originally made per the Boss records? The Damascus pattern is Turkish or so-called English Best. I am very familiar with a Boss side-snap made in 1886 that has the same Damascus pattern. The barrels on the Boss I am referring to were stamped 'CL', indicating that barrel work was done by Lancaster. That does not necessarily mean that the Damascus tubes were manufactured by Lancaster. Based on sources Doc Drew has provided, the tubes themselves could be Belgian. Here are his wonderful quotes:

Thomas Webley c. 1879, in John Henry Walsh's "The Shotgun" said "Quite three-fourths of the tubes used in Birmingham are Belgian make, and nearly all the London trade use them."

And James Purdey II admitted as much c. 1890 when he wrote that he preferred Damascus to steel barrels, but acknowledged that "...weight for weight steel is stronger than iron and shoots harder, though not of so handsome an appearance as damascus barrels." He favored Belgian damascus because "...not that when thorough sound English damascus can be obtained they are not superior, but because Belgian workmen are more careful than English, and there is thus less risk of slag and rubbish getting into the welds." I don't think there is a visible trace of "slag or rubbish" in the barrels shown in Canvasback's pictures.

Very difficult, if not impossible, to know for sure, but tubes made by a London maker, at least from the time of the Webley quote (1879) forward, could have been Belgian tubes finished and fitted by the English trade in London or Birmingham, since no less than James Purdey II favored Belgian Damascus over English because "Belgian workmen are more careful than English."

LeFusil, it has been speculated here that the barrels may have been by CL. Zero markings to that effect. The ONLY markings on the barrels, other than what can be seen on the flats in my photos, are the serial numbers and the name "BOSS".

There is no CL anywhere.

LeFusil, The Boss I mentioned has serial number 3857, which appears on the barrels, forend iron and the receiver. On the underside of the barrels on both tubes "CL" appears in front of the serial number. The top rib is marked "Boss & Co. 73 St. James's Street London". The Boss has a Perkes side snap action. Nothing to indicate it was ever rebarreled. According to Boss's records, the gun was one of a pair sold in 1886 to J.C. Ingram of Hyde Park, London.