I believe the one Bruce shows was introduced around 1887 while the early one, shown below, was used on lower grades well into the 1890's and possibly after the turn of the century.
Grades B (5) and higher with a capped pistol grip had a gold plate inletted into the face of the hard rubber cap while those guns with "pistol grip" or "semi-pistol grip" or "round knob" grip of grades B and higher usually had a contoured round gold cap inletted into the wood.
Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.
.
|