Mario Beschi info / value?

[2strklvr]

I recently aquired a 12ga. Mario Beschi O/A but can't seem to find much on the internet about this gun. Even the registration lists the make as "Unknown Italian". It has a vented rib on the top barrel and the bridge between the barrels is also vented. The boxlock is coin-finished and hand-engraved, indeed almost all the metal on the gun has been engraved to some extent. The trigger guard, break action lever, safety, even the forestock release lever are all engraved. The gun is in very, very good condition other than a PO for some ungodly reason hand carved the beautiful, hand-checkered walnut forestock and buttstock with finger-grooves to fit his hands ! He then proceeded to slop some sort of finish over the carved areas. To make matters worse, the finger grip carvings are for a right handed shooter and I'm a southpaw. Anyways I have sent the gun to a custom woodworker that is going to price out replacing the furniture. What I would like to know before I give him the go-ahead, is this gun worth putting the money into? It certainly looks and feels like a quality piece, but sometimes looks can be decieving.

 

[Sharptail]

Mario Beschi was a manufacturer of SxS and U/O shotguns in Gardone, Italy from the early 1950's until the mid 1980's. The company produced shotguns in various grades and qualities, sometimes producing guns to be marketed under other names. The guns ranged from very good (pigeon guns in the $5K range) to the mediocre (copies of copies of the Ithaca NID in the $700 range). The better guns seem to have been made in the late 60's / early 70's, and were indeed well made with bohler steel barrels.

The Italian proof mark system includes a manufacture date code. The codes can be found here:

http://www.gun-data.com/italiandatecodes2_arms.html

Too bad about the stock. Some pictures of the gun and the proof marks would be helpful. Your gun sounds like it may have been built as a trap gun - how long are the barrels?

Sharptail

 

[2strklvr]

AFAIK it is a trap gun, I was told that both barrels are fixed IC, but I don't have the gun right now (the woodchuck has it) to check the proof marks or barrel length. Will the barrel length off of the registration tell you anything? However I am 99.9% certain that it does say Bohler on the RHS of the top barrel.