He was not a collector, and bemoaned the mystique(and resulting high prices)of vintage American doubles.
Sometimes "mystique" is all a gun has going for it. I can think of at least one big-name American classic double that, if looked at strictly from an engineering/design/build quality standpoint, would be avoided like the plague.
Collectors may not be interested in those particular areas of their chosen favorite gun and that's obviously fine. No one should ever have to justify their personal preference in anything.
The flip side of that is that collectors should not take it personally if someone points out actual facts about a particular gun that are in conflict with the collector's perception.
