Gary, again you must blame my OCD for this. I was merely trying to inform the group that gutta percha was very popular around the time that these cases were made however, if I am reading the written material correctly the S&W cases were made using the shellac process thus making them something other than gutta percha.

Gutta percha comes from the sap of trees and shellac comes from the secretions of a bug. Similar but totally different. The resulting plastic is very similar but again different.

Reminds me that back in the 70's there was a Firebird and a Camaro. I owned a Camaro and my buddy owned a Firebird. Both had black interiors and sitting inside one could almost not tell which vehicle you were in however, they were two different vehicles.

Again, I have no first hand knowledge of either of these processes and am merely pointing out information that I have read.

__________________
James Redfield
LM #497