Recoil Rob, you are absolutely incorrect. If you think a $50,000 Purdey or Boss is being sold based on performance, you are smoking something the rest of us are not allowed to smoke.
When we discuss refinishing English guns it seems someone always go right to Purdey's, Boss & H&H? A different game completely, one most of us don't play. I was referring to the vast majority of English guns that are bought & sold and actually get used. Stuff you see at Hill Rod & Gun. Using guns.
For example, some years back I bought a Chas. Hellis 2" 12ga. I had it looked over by my usual guru who said the barrels had been reblacked but done well, bores and wall thickness were good. I figured it was something that I wouldn't have to consider having done for some time, a bonus if you will. It's a gun I bought for it's performance and I am very happy with it. I had the right tube opened and a pad added. Currently I can sell it for twice what I paid for it and it's hardly original.
OTOH, for about the same money I paid, I probably could have gotten a high condition field grade/ Grade 1 "American Classic", Parker, LC, Ithaca, Fox. Had I altered the chokes and put a pad on I probably could resell t for 1/2 of what I paid. American are valued for their originality, English for their performance. At levels most of us play at. If we're going to talk Big Three, I agree, originality is at a premium, but not nearly as much as for American Classics.
My comment were addressed to using guns, I gave up smoking long ago but 8B, I still know where you can get some if you like...
