I received this gun in trade for some construction work along with a leather cased full stocked Mannlicher 1908 carbine in 6.5x55 (another anomaly)...it's been pretty well reworked by Purdey several decades ago...the second set of barrels are signed J Purdey, but I believe they were made much later than the gun...the anomaly is, that the original set of barrels display a large number "3" on the rib...I'm not sure what this may mean, other than the possibility that it was part of a three gun brace...is that possible?
The son of the previous owner, says the gun is pre-1900...if in fact that's correct, then my next question is, who was wealthy enough to buy a 3 gun brace from Purdey back then?