Faked Titanic Steel Barrels

[TNR]

I don't if "faked" is the right word for this, but I'll go with it until someone corrects me.

Approx. 1990 (plus or minus a few years) my father bought a 12ga DH at auction - he had a serious eye for a few other things and didn't give it a good look. Well, it was a buyers crowd and stuff was going really low and he ended up going home with the DH.

It's a 1903 with a skeleton butt plate - but was obviously refinished in modern time at a very high quality. According to the parker letter all the dimensions are proper. The wood is exceptional (refinished original) and the case has been redone wonderfully.

Regardless - the issue is that the barrels had been sleeved and someone, very painstakingly, filed off "damascus" off the rib and engraved "Titanic" in proper font, size, etc. The rib matting was just barely touched on either side from the filing. We've asked a couple knowledgeable people to be critical of it - and outside of the sleeving marks - this escaped everyones first glances. My point is merely is that it was done well.

I wish I had some pictures on hand to post - i'll try to get some.

So my question - has anyone heard of this being done before? Is there anyway to determine if the sleeving is of good quality?

I'd appreciate any information or a point in the right direction.