Eightbore, you asked about getting info on these old guns. For me, when I was in Alaska for 30 years, no local supply of information on guns was available. Since the early 70s I had an interest and appreciation of nice shotguns { doubles and traps from earlier makers }. Being that distance from the mainstream of used shotgun commerce, I had to put ads in Shotgun News, later Gun List, and sometimes magazines. Early replies were 3/4 from the NY area. I started collecting old original catalogs when they were $5-10 and , at one time had over 1000. Baker shotguns were my main interest, so the engravers of the same were, too. Probably in the 70s, we had a small gun show in Anchorage and on tables next to mine were Sam Welch, the wonderful engraver, and Mike Petrov. I had a few Baker Guns for sale and had found a few Brochures from Rudolph Kornbrath. Sam Welch saw these and we talked. Kornbrath was his engraving Hero. Mike Petrov , too, had knowledge of Kornbrath from his interest in the custom rifles, I suspect. We talked and the conversations validated my thought that Kornbrath was of some high value. Over the years , I too, did research on these engravers and makers, surely not a persistent as Mr. Petrov, though. Just kept my eyes and ears open for stuff of interest and viewed hundreds of auction catalogs. Also developed a "trapline" of friends with the same interests. Finally there is some information coming forward . The internet is a huge step forward, too. A case in point the wonderful French catalogs on line discovered by JayCee [I think} I know there are guys out there who have seriously good gun stuff to share---the trick is how to attract them. Hopefully we will.
