These guns are wonderful, historic, pieces of art. They represent the finest works of the world's earliest gunmakers. One can only imaging the time, skill and patience necessary to create such a gun. The intricacy of the carving, the engraving, and the tooling is spectacular. And, in this case, the research underway to determine this guns history will provide endless entertainment. Personally, I would say such a gun can be compared to the finest paintings from artists of that era such as Chardin or Monet. Each individual gun is a masterpiece.