Not European, both of those numbers are Browning, American Market serial numbers from 1953. Why it has two, I can’t imagine.
Sorry Biz, this is all I’ve got. We know it’s not a Sweet Sixteen from the R1009 number, making the A70 from the first set of A-prefixed 16’s.
I am asking because could it be a Japanese copy such as Pointer? They look virtually the same as the Auto-5.
I have no experience with Pointers. But I would be amazed if their serialization was an exact copy of two of Browning’s. Not just two, but two that both point to 1953.
According to the bible, the "R1009" number shows it might have been shipped around 11/05/53, and the "A70" number shows before 11/04/54, soooooo---maybe it was originally stamped as one, then someone decided it needed to be stamped as the other? Interesting to say the least!!! ( And, BTW, I happened upon one of those Pointers at a gun show a few years ago. I had never heard of them until I got home and did some interneting. Still made at Miroku as I recall.
Ya' know, I saw a 1930s (12ga) A5 at a LGS just a month ago with a strange numbering issue---but in a different way--kind of. The first two digits of the serial number at first glance appeared to be polished off to the point where I could just barely see them, but just not quite enough to tell what they were. It was as though someone leaned into the buffing wheel a little too hard when they were prepping for a reblue. The problem was it didn't appear to be reblued. At all. The serial number was on the barrel, as I showed the 15 watt behind the counter. The visible digits on the receiver matched the numbers on the barrel, so that barrel was with that reciever way back when it was born. (Kind of made me wonder how they booked that gun into their records with only a partial serial number.) Sorry for the thread drift. Resume normal traffic on primary channel.
Very interesting. Following the shotgun world post closely. The link if anybody else is interested: https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=297760&p=4206246#p4206246