File marks/scratches don't photograph well....
I did my best to photo this gun so that the scratches would show up in the picture. This is a bird gun, ca. 1760, possibly German, but I'm thinking Flemish, actually. The hardware was probably purchased from a shop that specialized in gun hardware (or the gun shop had a "department" that only did gun hardware). Made by people who did nothing but brass gun hardware, casting, filing, and engraving, all day, every day. The engraving on this gun is absolutely FLAWLESS. I have looked over all of it, and there is NOT ONE SINGLE slipped line, not one accidental crossed line, no slip, no jump, nothing. The engraving is basically perfect..... yet the brass has file marks (and stone marks???) all over it. They're not horrendous, but fine scratches can be seen every where on all the hardware (the sideplate less so, since it is a broad flat surface, and no doubt easier to polish). MAYBE you can see some of the more egregious scratches on this triggerguard, in the beveled edges where the file was dragged sideways along the bevel (which is how I would do it...). Most of the hardware is not that obviously scratched, but the marks are there, nonetheless. (You can also see the casting pit up near the tip of the finial.)