A mystery pistol masterpiece of design - but who made it?

[Powderfinger]

If it was faked to appear to be an official BSA then the questions I ask are why did someone fake it and how much money did they make from.faking it? Big money from.collectable air pistols has only been made during the past couple of decades and even the most collectable air pistols do not command much money compared to other arts or collectables, maybe the price of a decent second hand car at best. Not worth making such a brilliant fake for that money? If it had been made to raise as much money as possible then it would surely have been put up in a prestigious auction not left to corrode for decades.
I tend to think it is a genuine BSA project. It looks a little like experimental BSA cartridge pistols of the 1920s. Maybe dates to late 1920s but BSA realised that Webley had cornered the air pistol market.