[HarryB]

Hey Damien. This is a very interesting subject indeed. This one may muddy the waters a little bit more. It's about the barrel date on an original all matching Lithgow rifle, action dated 1923, barrel dated 12 '24, with a coachwood butt dated 1925. a nice example of how Lithgow experimented with coachwood in the 1920's. You will see on this one the month is stamped in a different size font to the year, suggesting the year and month were stamped at different times.

 

[HarryB]

Wow. I've never seen the Lithgow Shield on a Coach wood butt.

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I saw an interesting one at the recent Australian Arms Auction in Melbourne. A 1934 dated action assembled as a completed rifle in 1936. Fore-end and nose cap were later replacements but the butt was original and clearly stamped and dated 1936, but it was coachwood. I had never seen a 1936 dated coachwood butt before only Queensland Maple.