William Read, Boston, Percussion 6 Bore?

[J.B. Books]

The owner of a local business I frequent told me he had an old family shotgun and he wanted to know more about it and of course any potential value. First off the gun is a family heirloom and I doubt it will going anywhere soon. All he could tell me is it had external hammers and it was really big.

I finally had a chance to look at and handle the gun today and it was not what I was expecting. It is a beast of a percussion shotgun weighing just under 15 pounds with 38 inch barrels and bores that mic'ed .950. I assume this a 6 bore and I am guessing it was built in the days before choke was invented.

It appeared to be in excellent condition both cosmetically and mechanically. The hammers worked as they should and the wood was sound. Checkering on the stock was strong but I did not see any checkering on the forend.

They only markings I saw where on the sides of the receiver and on the top rib, "William Read, Boston". I could not find any patents, proof marks etc.

I have read a little of what I found on the web so far and that is William Read predates William Read and Sons. They were an importer who may have had in house gunsmiths and they sold all manner of sporting goods. They sold guns or good quality and this gun appeared as such.

So given this my questions are; How old do you think this gun is? Is a seemingly functional percussion 6 bore double gun worth anything? What do we know about William Read? All help and info is appreciated. Sorry for the slightly less than stellar pictures, I had to be somewhere else and was rushed for time, I can get better pictures on another day.