Bayoubob,

Welcome to the NE forums.

Unfortunately you are correct. There is a class of people who rate a fine double rifle in the same category as a hoe or garden rake.

I suppose we should not mourn when these people commit such atrocities to their own property. Likewise, a student of the fine arts shouldn't whine if the owner of a classic sculpture decided the marble would be more useful if ground to gravel and used to patch his driveway.

One need only look to the finely executed engraving, the chiseled and hand-filed action, and the nicely carved stock on the above double rifle to know that the maker thought of it not only as a tool but as a work of art. I feel certain it was received as such by the original owner. And the fact is, it was emminently capable of the job intended just as originally made. Only some later user incapable of handling it thought otherwise.

Should there be some moral responsibility to preserve art of the past? That's the question to ponder. In my mind the answer is "yes".

This owner should have started his modifications with a Blaser double. He could do anything imaginable with one of those and hear no chirp from me. There's no art in a Blaser. It's made as a tool and never will be revered as art.

Curl