The Beesley ledger records a fair number of guns ordered to match a previously made Beesley, or in a few cases, to match a Purdey. Having also interrogated the Purdey records the same was reflected there, a gun made up to match an older one.

I don't believe it was that unusual back in the late 1800s to order a gun to match an existing one and to make a composed pair. As driven shooting became popular more pairs were ordered as such and made up with consecutive numbers, of course.

Tim