J Manton Belgium
 

Some friend that has the Parker has this old gem as well. Cant find much info on it at all. Belgium made. 12 gauge. Does anyone know where I can get more info on this on this one? Maybe find a value.
Thanks

That one is going in every direction. It is obviously an attempt to play off the English Mantons. A famous name with a single initial appended is generally a tip-off. T. Parker, W. Richards, J. Manton etc. That gun is a Belgian and carries correct proofs, but personally I don't think it exhibits any characteristic of a quality or classic shotgun. Looks to be in decent condition, but the engraving is kind of crude with no real design theme and the stock is just weird. In my mind that is a $200 shotgun. That whole category of gun is hard to move.

I wonder if a talented stockmaker could fit that stock to a Parker?

I wonder if a talented stockmaker could fit that stock to a Parker? By the way, this gun is "Government Tested".

We can only hope not. Ten years from now there will be a long post trying to identify and trace the history of an incredible one off that isn't in the book.

It is a Henri Pieper Modified Diana 'knockoff' intended for the English speaking market, made 1910 to 1921 (there is no lettre annale)
The barrels are Faux Damascus décalcomanie over fluid steel. Pieper mostly used Cockerill steel. That suggests it was pre-WWI.
It doesn't carry Smokeless Powder proof but that is not uncommon on export guns as there was an additional expense for Smokeless proof.

It carries little value.

Another “knock off”. The Belgians made a lot of stuff like this. With similar names to quality makers from other trades. In this case, Manton. You will also see the Richards name sometimes. And of course, Parker.