Posted by SGT on October 27, 2006, 11:57 am, in reply to "A1"
Many of these old classic doubles have double rib beads; and most often they are of ivory. These were installed for a variety of reasons alleged to improve sighting and shooting abilities (some of which have been noted by others); but they were also installed for esthetics, they look good on a classic gun! They were also a "cheap" and affordable option; only adding $.50-1.00 to the cost of the gun, which was another reason why they were popular. If what you have are made of original elephant ivory material, they will have "yellowed" with age.