Yes it is Bill and it belongs to Edgar.





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There is a story to go with that bone charcoal case-hardened, original-condition 12-gauge, 30-inch barreled VH, written by Edgar Spencer, with illustrations by Mark Ouellette. It can be found in PARKER PAGES Volume 20, Issue 3, of Autumn, 2013.

The “out of the box New” qualities of the gun were overlooked for several hours, due to other distractions. Then the gun was un-sleeved in the natural light of day…like it stepped out of Time.

It is an amazing gun. I have examined it personally. (Thanks Edgar)





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Allen:

Here are some observations on cyanide vs. bone charcoal re-coloring made by Bruce Day, posted on this forum a while back.

1. Del Grego's do not do their own color case hardening. They take them to a contractor in nearby Herkimer for cyanide process or more recently, to Turnbull for charcoal process if selected by the gun owner.

2. Case colors can be muted or removed by hand polishing over the course of an evening while watching television.

3. The color patterns of cyanide case colors depend on the technique of the person doing the work. Results range from near charcoal case colors to the discussed tiger stripes. The process uses a liquid bath and the tiger stripes result from multiple depth immersions. Similar to dyeing an Easter egg.

Falling into FWIW, category, this is a cyanide process done by the same folks who do the Browning low walls. This is done in Montana. Frames are done and then shipped to Miroku in Japan for assembly into the complete gun. https://i.imgur.com/pzJfjk5h.jpg

That’s very pretty.





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