On p. 13 above I commented on the London Proof House. One book seemed to suggest Reilly joined in 1825 but that is unclear. Here is the print record of the copperplate references to members of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers, London. (the London proof house)..listing Reilly, Joseph Chas - 1825.

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.278485/2015.278485.A-History_djvu.txt
"THE PROOF PLATE OF THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY





Call attention to the second to last paragraph...where barrel maker X made barrels for Y and Z...and it's listed XY...or XZ, etc.

The problem is the plate is unclear and some of the makers marks going back to 1680 are not identified. Various makers joined the proof house at varying times; some prominent gun makers are never listed as members.

I wrote to the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers asking questions about Reilly - no answers. I believe David Trevallion is a member. I will repeat however, that per the research above, all Reilly guns with original barrels, which are serial numbered, were proofed in London. If it has a Birmingham proof, it is highly unlikely to have a Reilly SN...that is until Charles Riggs bought the name in 1922.

I'd love to do some research there looking at the day books since I can pinpoint certain Reillys to within a couple of weeks of manufacture...and in particular on Reilly SN guns in my database. Perhaps the next time I go overseas, I can arrange to stop in London for a day or two. Reilly also allegedly had a silver mark he took out in 1819 - I've been unable to find it.

And Raimey...I stumbled on a site for Purdey which listed the order of tasks in manufacturing Purdey guns which changed during the decades(When I was researching at what point in a gun's manufacture were the barrels blued/browned). This site mentioned about 1876 that "now we have Belgian barrels...". I cannot find the darned thing again. I'll keep looking. But that was a pretty damning statement coming from a Purdey historian.

Last edited by Argo44; 10/14/19 07:19 PM.
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