I'd say I had a "best" candidate which John Mann lined up for a sale. "It belongs to the same elderly gentleman that I got Trout's LC Smith from. It is an original featherweight, one of the most beautiful Sterlingworths I have ever seen. I would call it a benchmark gun. All original and all but pristine. The gun could be used to judge the finish of any other."
I bought the 1925 gun for $1200 and John shipped it across the border clearly marked "shotgun" on declaration papers. Imagine chancing that today! The gun was with me when my buddies and I capsized 200 metres offshore an hour before daylight in choppy waters in snow squalls a week before Christmas about five years ago.
Recovered it by diving six fathoms six months later and had Nick Makinson restore it except for case hardening action. I wouldn't chance twisting in the process, on his advice.
