"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," or so the saying goes.
I have found as I have grown older, my taste has changed. When I was a younger man the Black guns peak my fancy with their sharp lines and their dark no-nonsense appearance. Their beauty was in their function, simplicity of form and their ability to inspire awe in others of my peers.
As I got a little older I tended towards the more practical side, what I could used to either put food on the table or just go out and have just good clean fun. I didn't give appearance much thought, it was/is a tool nothing more and gave it no more thought then I would the appearance of a hammer or a wrench. I traded them often with out thought and always looking for something better.
Now that I'm in my middle ages, my rebel nature long behind me. I've found that my taste is now tending towards the finer end of the gun pool, with the choice more in the double guns and higher end rifles and handguns. I'm now looking at Foxs, Parkers, LC Smiths, pre-64 Winchesters, Mausers, older Colts and Smith and Wessons. I find beauty in the fit, finish and the materials that craftsmen of these older guns used spending hours, days, weeks and even months putting together these things of beauty, embellishing them with engravings sometime inlayed with gold and silver or simply finishing them with case coloring or bottomless blue finishes.
I don't own any of these guns yet! But I find them simply beautiful and would be proud to count them someday as mine.
