that is an easy & fun era of gun to collect, ( at least it is for me ) the prices are reasonable, there were alot of manufacturers, & inovation was at it's highest, so there are alot of models, options, & improvements out there... & top break guns are just plain cool... I've bought almost 3 dozen similar guns over the last year & a half, & am having trouble weaning myself off of guns of this era... I guess I've slid just a bit older with most of my latest purchases being spur trigger single action guns... my latest is a 5" barrel S&W 2nd model spur trigger in 38 S&W...
I'm a bit undecided as far as which barrel lengths I like in these old guns... when I 1st started buying, I liked the shorter more CCW type "pocket" guns... I've since collected some mid length & longer barrels, but don't really see much increase in speeds over the chrony with the longer barrels, so, since I'm loading for, & shooting these guns, the snubbies seem more practical in all aspects, except for sight radius...
they all seem to have some interesting options... I think the older Iver Johnsons with the trigger safety ( kinda like the Glocks ) are cool, but Iver made those guns in the 1800's... I look for early hand ejectors in the top break models... H&R was the most prolific manufacturer of those... & the solid frames with loading gates & folding hammer spurs are some of my favorites, & those are only found on Hopkins & Allen ( or Forehand & Wadsworth, or Merwin & Huberts made by Hopkins & Allen )... Meridian / Eastern Arms, & whom ever else they manufactured under had revolvers with modern styled safety buttons on the frames above the grips...
all seemed to offer engraving, though H&R & Hopkins & Allen seemed to produce more engraved guns... also the blued guns seem more rare than the nickel guns, so I enjoy finding nice blued guns of this era...
now that I got almost all I want... I gotta get others interested, so the prices go up & mine are worth more