Every gun made in a series has a mate that is only one serial number digit away. I would guess that 9 out of 10 times it doesn’t mean anything. But sometimes it does. A friend and I bought new Browning superposed lightning trap guns years ago and the consecutive serial numbers have kept both of us from selling. I refuse to break up the “pair”.

I’d think if there is a connection with Osa on the 9.3 it might be with a friend or someone in her party. You might check through old Nairobi Gazettes (someone help me with the name if this is not quite right). These have licensing and storage details that include serial numbers.

It’s a little like the mystery with Hemingway’s “10.75 Mauser”. Hemingway wrote a note to his friend Mike Strater in 1932 to tell him he was taking “a 10.75 Mauser, the G&H Springfield, and a Colt Woodsman” on safari. The 10.75 has never been confirmed. What is confirmed, though, is that Strater took delivery of a Griffin and Howe magnum Mauser in .404 Jeffery in 1930. Strater bought the rifle it because originally he had planned to accompany Hemingway to Africa. He ultimately didn’t because Hemingway postponed the safari twice, each time by a year. That very rifle, G&H no 1034 was sold at auction in 2015. But of course it wasn’t Hemingway’s gun and there is no Africa hunting lore associated with it.

So, who knows what you may find in time. Good luck! As Huvius says, the rifle is a beautiful piece as is.