I am of the opinion that the action was never in the little British Isles. Also, Matska was born in Bohemia & had close ties w/ Weipert / Vejperty. So a serialized tubeset was ordered and an action from elsewhere was married. Maybe the owner wanted English proofs on his & didn't know any better?

>>The #17 Matska looks very similar to a Sauer Model 2 frame from Suhl. I'd like to see if anything is stamped on the backside fo the locks. Also I noticed on the right side of the watertable letters that look Slavic. After re-reading Geno/Bill Wise's article, I see that there is a Gustav Bittner, Weipert, Bohemia, frame connection. In the article it notes frames were from Gustav Bittner's Austrian factory, a group effort that made components for the Mannlicher for the Austro-Hungarian armed forces. So easily, there could have been a Russian-Bohemina-German connection. And the "E(backwards)P" stamp must have been Bernard's due to the fact that Paris the proof facility wasn't online in the 1880s. And it is the name "Kilby" in gothic that is adjacent to the "Trade Mark" stamp(Thanks Geno for the effort).<<

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=130190&page=3

Cheers,

Raimey
rse