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A second pre 1881 outlier label

Trade labels and making sense of them is truly Quixotic. But, I thought I'd gotten a pretty good handle on Reilly trade labels...see the chart on p.44. But again exception rears its head.

This is a label from Reilly .450 BPE SxS rifle SN 21369 (Serial numbered in 1878 per the chart). It is from 315 Oxford Street. It has floral capitals which more resemble those from UK gun labels in the 1890's (see previous posts). I'd normally dismiss it as a reproduction (the case has been "reconditioned") except for the scolloped corners...and it's never been seen on reproduction sites.



It is very similar to this label which came in a case for SN 10354, a Reilly muzzle loader from 1857, transformed per records into a center-break breech-loader in allegedly 1895-1904 (per the consigner - pictured and discussed before). But it has "502 New Oxford Street" address...pre-1885 for sure and possibly pre 1882 (address changed in Nov 1881 - labels did not catch up for a couple of years but there are not that many to reference).



So what to make of these two labels? One can call them "outlier" (for one), get away with calling them "outliers" (for two)(but from two different workshops?). If a third appears...reevaluation.

Last edited by Argo44; 06/28/20 11:21 PM.
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