C.L. Scott says 6% missing numbers in the SB would be "uncommon". Uncommon or not, the approximate number of guns in missing books is a matter of record, not a matter of guesswork. We know which stock books are available for research, and we know which ones are missing. We also know approximately how many guns are listed in the missing books. The authors made their best attempt to extrapolate the missing guns when computing their totals. In my opinion, that may have been an error in judgement, but they did what they did. If it were left to the uninformed reader, the result would not have been as accurate. Not every reader of TPS is an experienced Parker collector or student.
|