There are unrestored cases out there. The collection that Tom Lindner auctioned about seven years ago comes to mind. Tom had around eight cases and only two had defects. One had a small chip on a corner and the other had a repair on the side where the revolver discharged when being placed in the case 100 years ago. The bottom fabric in that case also was scorched at the cylinder gap.

Most of these cases are chipped or cracked as they are fragile. The most often found defects will be broken areas around the hinges, broken barrel mounts and the post on the cartridge block just in front of the trigger.

The repro Stand of Flags case has noticeable repairs to the bottom and right side as well as other smaller items. I have not seen a repro Pistol case so I can't comment on them.

__________________
Mike Maher #283