No. 5 Mk I question

A few more photos.

We need to see the carbine naked...

I agree with Jim

I will see if he will let me borrow it.

When you say "naked", does that mean the buttstock has to come off also or just the forestock?

The fore-end only for me so we can see surface of the butt socket

Will these work?

Have you ever heard of the phrase '....eating humble pie'? Because it looks like eating humble pie time. It looks to me that without any doubt, that quite incredibly, this is a wrongly marked No5 rifle. I was beginning to think that with the R serial number being a No5 number of the era, that it might well be right............

Anyway, does anyone else have an R prefix serial number that it wrongly engraved. We have an R No5 at work but it's not a close number. What say you BAR? Strange but true or another opinion?

So...did they just etch the mark in? Were the #4s and#5s made on the same line by the same people? Someone lost their focus and marked it incorrectly so then had to re-mark it? Friday or Monday gun? It sure looks like a #5 to me...

Does this work like coins? Does the value go up because of the unusual marking?

Any idea what a fair price would be for it?

I haven't got a clue about values but I suppose it would be in the same value category as an erroniously Mk1* marked Maltby Mk1.

No4 production had ceased when this No5 was made and the pantograph template for the scratchy pen (as we called them) would have been set up for No5's so whether someone the semi skilled operator accidentally slid in the No4 template for a few dozen or so before the error was noticed by the inspector........... who knows, but there it is. Who'd have believed it!

We have a R prefix No5 that is standard but it's 200 or so away from this one. Anyone got a closer numbered one?