What is the history of a shotgun marked Belgium Excelsior Damascus Magnum Laminated Steel and the numbers 37801 and 40973?

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Answer

Excelsior double barrel shotguns were made by various Belgian manufacturers c. 1890 - 1914 and I doubt if you will ever be able to identify the exact maker. The crown over the oval ELG indicates it was proofed for black powder after 1893. Damascus is one form of laminated steel, usually considered the best of this type construction, so if it were truly damascus, it would probably be marked as such. 18.0 would be the gauge, I believe that would be a full-choked 12 ga barrel. I doubt if the word below Excelsior would be "Magnum." I don't think that term would have been used for shotgun loads in that time period. Is it possible that it is the remnant of "Machine Made?" The numbers that look like serial numbers MAY actually be serial numbers, but there are no records available that would allow us assign a date of manufacture from them. More likely they are batch numbers or part numbers which could appear on many different guns. The "*M" appearing on the barrels and action are probably assembly marks to indicate that these were "fitted" (parts were not fully interchangeable in those days) and the "Y" possibly the worker who did the final fitting.