Dear Toby and Clapper,
Thanks for your input, and Toby thanks for checking Volume 3. I did find on the Internet a shop in Wales advertising one at cover price. but when they checked their “warehouse” it was no longer in stock. I suspect that they don’t keep any stock but just order in from Coch-y-Bonddu in Machynlleth when they get a request.
Even if TIG welding was done then there would have been little point as the breeches are a nice Damascus pattern.
The elegant solution is a gold inlay in a groove at joint, black the steel tubes, and reverse the process at the muzzles. Unfortunately the cost of the gold alone would outweigh the present value of the gun.
Mr. Cooke no doubt worked for someone in the Birmingham trade, but it is nice to see from his neatly applied stamps across the joins the pride he took in his work,
Keep Well
Parabola
