“There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.”
Edward Bernays, 1928
Much changes, much remains the same.
Non-availability of many Long Branch records was a cause for concern in my studies on North American production. In contrast, we have a good array of Britishand Australian
factory records. Digital photography and computer programs make almost anything possible today, so a photograph is no longer sufficient proof. Agreeing with Peter, one needs to examine the item hands on before venturing an opinion. Such markings used a roll die and such a die would hardly be made up unless there was a reasonable production run. It is odd that we've never seen a Long Branch No.5 rifle, there is none in any official collection that I know of, nor have we seen any report on same. I would need to see the rifle/action body and consider it along with the other component parts.
Life would be dull if one knew everything, that is for sure.
Cheers, Ian
The original poster on CGN has admitted he photoshopped it.
Of course there's CGN's inveterate BSer and attention hound claiming he's seen crates of them in the '90's.
I suppose that the first thing that comes to eye is the use of a I for the mark number instead of the correct 1.