In my study of Powell's 19th Century patent action guns, I have come across a number of pairs
that lacked consecutive serial numbers. So why would this be? I think the answer was provided
by Peter Powell during a car ride between Birmingham and Banbury. He opined that his gunmaking
ancestors weren't 'sentimental men.' They were making and selling a product while trying to avoid
taxes. They never anticipated that one day "yanks" would obsess over details that were of seemingly
no importance. If the client didn't care about consecutive serial numbers - why should they?
