Pete and Raimey, I have wondered about the possibility of a satellite Use Number Station, too. I guess Germany and Belgium were not too far for a Westley Richards rep. to travel, or for that matter, with the relatively good transportation networks back then, maybe guns shipped by rail and boat were easy to get to W R from the continent. We can read about John Dickson guns being regularly shipped to the Sumner engravers for engraving. Sometimes turn around , was less than a week. That was a round trip from Edinburg to London. Of course most proofing required shipping of guns to the two proofhouses in England from all parts of the island [s]. I sometimes forget the relative small size of the Continent and Britain, having lived in Alaska and Montana.

Another thought on the Patent Use Numbers is the marking we see on Dickson triggerplate guns. Always a patent use number. I cannot remember which patent it refers to or who may have owned the patent. Almost seems odd that Dickson would go to the trouble if they actually owned the patent.

Last edited by Daryl Hallquist; 01/13/12 12:07 PM.
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