I tend to agree that the engraving on the Auction gun does not look up to Kornbrath standards. Animal appears to be a cross between a bear and porcupine. Also keep in mind Michael wrote that all the S-man rifles he had seen were stocked in American Black Walnut. Does someone who tries to save a few bucks on wood really send a rifle to Kornbrath for engraving? I have no idea, just speculating. Maybe he had another reason to use Black Walnut, maybe he just liked it, maybe he had a good supply of it. We may never know, nice rifle but I can't see it being a $10,000 rifle.

Best,
John