For what it's worth, I have seen original Colt factory merchandising
display boards. The preference was clearly toward "artistic"
arrangement . . . usually concentric circles, on cloth. You
might look in some of the books on the history of Colt, S & W,
Winchester.
IMHO
According to SOHS Collections Department:
>
> We are reinstalling a portion of our firearms collection in two narrow
> cases designed to be inside a late 19th century gundealer/gunsmith's
> shop. I haven't found any historic photographs of the interior of a
> local merchant's store to help me decide how to accurately mount the
> firearms. Does anyone else have evidence of historically correct
> mountings? Should the firearms be placed vertically or horizontally? And
> should the back of the cases be lined with any material (e.g. felt) or
> left bare wood? Suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
>
> Mary Ames Sheret
> Curator of Collections
> SOHS
> Medford, Oregon
>