I have cabin fever due to all this snow, so I went to Borders Books to hang out while my wife ran some errands. Got a short "edumacation" by reading Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms and Their Values.
Seems that Garrison Joe (on the Wire) was right on the money,
"Sounds like a Belgian trade gun, imported by H. and D. Folsom Company of New York, imported and sold as a fairly cheap double in the 1890s." It seems that H. and D. Folsom Co. imported Belgium shotguns and had the distributor's names put on them, for instance Sears, Montgomery Wards, a particular hardware store, or department store. H. and D. also imported them with their own "brand", U.S.Arms Co., for distribution to stores not wanting their name on them.
Many of these shotguns were "cheap" in the respect that their target buyer were hunters - field/utility grades, but were still well built and not "cheap" in quality. Others were an attempt to duplicate features of higher priced shotguns, to which prices reflected those features, eg. higher grades of wood, engraving, or "damascus patterns". Fladerman's also goes into different features - pros and cons. Backlock actions, for example, may have been less expensive, but not necessarily inferior. Side levers were just one "style" that gave way to top levers, again not necessarily "cheap", just different.
The term "damascus" is given to the type of manufacture - patterns and material varied. This was how barrels were made with the technology of the time - again not cheap, suitable for the BP cartridges of the time. They just could not handle the pressures of the new smokeless powder.
Obviously, quality was dependent on the manufacturer/supplier to H. and D. It was noted that H. and D. Folsom Company of New York was one of the largest importers of shotguns in the U.S., especially from Belgium, to which many were utility grade. Lack of basic quality, like delamination of barrels, would not allow the company to continue selling the quantities they sold. Plus Sears and Wards had a reputation to uphold.
From descriptions of features, my shotgun was very probably manufactured prior to 1900. The fact that it has lasted all these years and still locks and operates as it should attests to it's quality - for its application - BP. NEVER SHOOT SMOKELESS IN THESE SHOTGUNS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR THAT APPLICATION. Flayderman's states that some of the best manufacturers continued with damascus barrels FOR BLACK POWDER into the 1900's, even as fluid steels became common.
Sorry for the long winded response, but I had to write it down before I forgot.
Thanks to you all.
MJJ