It was described as "original" to me, but the asking price was lower than real original rig in similar shape. I had been happy before I received it (I confess that I am a little bit greedy sometimes). When I received it, "What? you call this all original? Then what's reblue in your dictionary?" ..... After initial storm of upsetting in my mind, I changed my mind. It's not dirt cheap though.
I would think early small ring with single lug firing pin and long extractor appeared in 1902. This s/n appears in vL&D's sale list. I will send $50 to Griffin Howe to find the exact sale date.
Transitional in this context means it's a gun sitting between Large Ring Hammer, and Standard Small Ring. It has feature of both. Hammer is small ring, safe level is standard small ring type, but extractor is long and firing pin is single lug. Mauser's worksmanship quality at this time dropped from early Cone Hammer and Large Ring slightly, but still better than later "mainstream" production.
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