I just came across an old double with laminated barrels, hammers, and W Richards stamped on the side plate. Upon taking the forearm off it's stamped Belgium. I got it from a friend whose family brought it over when they settled in the US. Could this by chance be a Westley Richards? JC

I'm not a collector of either old or fine doubles, but I'm aware that many relatively inexpensive shotguns were made in Belgium in the latter half of the 19th century and stamped with names similar to the more prestigeous English makes. That sounds like what you have. A genuine Westley Richards would have no part made or stamped "Belgium".

Lots of American retailers imported such Belgian guns under their own proprietary brand. Another common producer of proprietary shotguns with "sound alike" proprietary names which were made in the U.S. was the W. D. Folsom company.

Thanks.

JC

To my understanding, Westley Richards guns were always stamped with full names. There was, however, one W. Richards company in Liverpool, but to my knowledge they made their own guns and did not import.