Posted by Bill Hambidge on November 15, 2007, 11:40 am, in reply to "Re: LC Smith 16 ga"
Gene, Welcome to our board. Restoration??? Well as you were advised, will cost a lot of $$$ and not be recoverable except in personal pleasure. I do a fair amount of restoration/upgrading and the benefit for the owner is in having a custom shotgun that is part of "Americana" for a fraction of the cost of a London Best. The work takes time-9-18 months is not uncommon once the gun works it's way to the 'smiths bench. Most folks are seriously backed up right now. A complete job with exhibition wood and some gold "critters" and reblue and re-case color can run well over 4K$. But remember a London Best or even a Spannish best is much more. Finally the "mint" collector guns are already in someone's gun safe or generally priced rather steeply. Hope this helps. Best, Dr. BILL