Reb87 has brought up a very important point. Ideally an Allen trapdoor double will surface. the words, Patented Nov. 25 1890 has been recorded on Hopkins and Allen shotguns. That date correspondes to patent 441395, issued to Martin Bye and assigned to Sullivan Forehand. Both patent and shotgun were toplevers. Allen died (1871) only 6 years after the trapdoor patent was issued. His successors , Forehand being one of them, continued on with the Worcester gun trade after his death. It would be very hard to concieve that Forehand and the others produced no double guns from 1871 to 1890...surely there were many, but again we are into lost chapter of American double evolution...the Worcester gun...I guess that makes all Worcester doubles suspect, especially the early toplevers (pre1890)...Wish I could be more definitive but I never got around to buying the book by Harold Mouillesseaux about Ethan Allen...maybe that book will yield some information or clues, if anyone has it...I'll take a picture of Torkelson damascus barrels and post it, but I think that's way too late.
