Original Sporting Guns

[Gambia]

Rich W

I would say your gun Manton & Sons was a export gun. you often find that London gunmakers bought barrels from the Birmingham barrel makers  which were cheaper than those made in London.They would then build a gun and engrave LONDON on the rib, the letters on the underside rib would be the barrel maker and the Birmingham proof marks would be crossed scepters with the letters BPC and also the crossed scepters with the letter V, both would have a crown above the scepters.There should also be the bore size and the script letters BP with a crown above.
A gun like yours in its condition would sell in the UK for £120 sterling that would be $240
Feltwad
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A Flint Lock will not secure a chicken house door

[Captchee]

if anyone is looking for a couple  original SXS , get ahold of me . i have a couple restorable barrel sets 'LONDON " not  belgum  . with matching locks .
 i think i have one complete peice out there , missing Butt plate and TG . needs re stocked though  as the original has been repaired many times
I also have  a half dozen original  lock sets  to include back actions
a couple very large back actions

[RichW]

A gun like yours in its condition would sell in the UK for £120 sterling that would be $240

I think it would cost almost that much to ship it back to the UK.  

Fortunately or unfortunately, they go for about twice that over here.  But I think they got used much more here as well, and tend not to survive in good condition, as Captchee alludes to in his post.  Over there, shooting was largely limited to the upper classes and those employed by them, whereas in the U.S., every farm boy had a shotgun.

I would guess that you see more rust and neglect related to storage when the gun was no longer useful, while here, they were used until they literally fell apart.

[Uncle Russ]

In my mind, I like what RichW has had to say about this, as it reflects my own thoughts and feelings....although I have no 'proof', either way, it sure passes the common sense test with flying colors, IMO.

Uncle Russ...

[Gambia]

Yes I agree with  some of Rich W replies guns in the States had a harder life than those here in the UK,also here most in a poor condition have been stored away in lofts ,barns ,etc.
What I do not agree with entirely is that shooting was largely limited to the upper classes.Yes the gentry owned sporting guns by top London and Birmingham makers but there was more guns in the lower bracket owned by the working classes from laboures up.It was mostly these people plus military consignments and export that kept the Birmingham and London gun makers in business.The only time when the sporting gun production was halted was when a military order of rifles for some war was placed such as the civil war in the States.but that is moving away from the original thread.
Feltwad
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A Flint Lock will not secure a chicken house door

[RichW]

Feltwad, you are no doubt correct.  But I think a larger proportion of rural Americans had sporting guns, compared with the average farmers in the UK.