The more I look at the photos, the more I get confused.
The receipts are dated late 1946. At that time there was no Austrian state, only "occupation zones". Mr. Hicks was a "Kapt." = captain at that time. All the items shown predate WW2 by several years, so it is unlikely that captain Hicks had them made to his order originally.
We may dismiss the "Barella" guncase first: Obviously it was not tailor-made for the gun, as it is blocked in a different colored material to fit it. The F.W.H. stamps on the leathergoods may have been applied anytime. The shape of the letters looks neither Austrian nor German to me, but was common in English or American use. BTW what is the use of a scope case combined with a shotgun case?
The gun itself was proofed in Suhl, NITRO in block letters, 8 27 =August 1927, so it was already 19 years old when Hicks bought it. Unlikely a man who was still a captain in 1946 placed an order for a custom shotgun 20 years earlier.
The barrel flats are jeweled over the proofmarks, typical for American workmanship of the 1960s, but very unusual on a 1920s Suhl gun.
The "RG OWEN SAUQUOIT ,NY" inscription on the top rib looks spurious to me too. Inscriptions of the retailer's name on top rib panels are common on Suhl guns, but these panels are usually level with the rib, only spared from the engraving. Here the panel is sunken into the rib. It's ends are cut jagged and it shows lengthwise file scratches. The letters of Owen's adress are cut uneven, look at the individual letters. The "gold" seems to be a simple color rubbed into the letters. No Suhl gunmaker would have accepted such shoddy workmanship on an otherwise fine gun.
IMHO F.W.Hicks bought all this stuff second hand from the country gunsmith Amrusch (did you notice the different handwritings on the two receipts?) in 1946 when allied officers were the only buyers of guns. Later, he had his initials stamped on the leather and had Owen to rejuvenate and further embellish the gun. Some of the gold inlays, especially the small one on the foreend iron, look like afterthoughts to me. Owen apparently also replaced the original initials on the foreend with the FHW. Have a close look at the top of the F and the bottom of the W. Here some gaps show that indicate a former, different inlay.
