I don't pretend to know anything about Tobins, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night either. But I bought a Tobin at the Tulsa gun show 3 or 4 years ago and asked about it here. Mine is a Norwich Conn mfg 12 ga, with Trojan Nitro Steel stamped on both bbls. Serial # is 84XX, and the side plates are blue/black. I thought they had probably been blued, but was told by the board here that it is a Black Beauty model, and supposed to be black. Ain't this place great?