Black & White Or Brown Barrels on English Gun?

[Setter Man]

I had a 28 ga Bonehill BLNE - barrels were brown. Also had a high-grade WC Scott, also brown.

[Parker Bachelder (Brad's Profile)]

In our current group of restorations,we have a Neadham, Greener, 3 W&C Scotts, and a Purdy. All fine Damascus. These guns all had remnants of original pattern and colors. The colors were black and white with a subtle overtone of brown, due to oxidation. In my experience, original English barrels have shown the same color ranges. The plum brown " orange" color only appears on english re-done barrels.
In finishing all damascus barrels are brown and white until the rusting is converted by boiling. I have noticed that English iron tends to convert back to the brown state more easily than other types of iron. This conversion combined with oxidation leads one to believe that they were brown and white. My experience tells me that they were black and white.

Brad