Imperials are nice guns. I've seen some that are fantastic - the equivalent of a London best. Others have been just a step down - they didn't have chopperlump bbls or disc-set strikers.
The first Hussey used to work for J. Lang - I think as an overall manager (I would have to look it up). He was fired for some finanical irregularities. He started his own shop and made guns under the name H.J. Hussey. His top-of-the-line gun was the Imperial.
His son joined him after a while (I think he was apprenticed at Lang) and then the boy took the shop over. The company went through a number of incarnation - Harrison & Hussey being one, and Ogden, Smith, & Hussey being a later one (maybe the last).
They made lots of different grades of guns, boxlocks and sidelocks. There seem to be a lot of them out there, even though they couldn't have made that many of them.
A nice Imperial with lot of color and original condition seems to be about a $10,000-$12,000 gun these days. I've seen really nice ones go for a lot more though.
OWD
OWD
