After looking at a few other lifters of that era, 524 is the order number and the odd looking 4 is the barrel weight before striking. Four lbs. and no ounces seems about right for a 1-frame twelve gauge.
The mystery of that different 4 is solved in that the barrel maker of course used a different set of dies than the set used by the person who stamped the order number (524) in the right barrel flat.
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