I have been following this posting with interest, and here are my thoughts. I am pretty sure that this pieces is a true HL that was made in Canada. Although I'm pretty sure it is not a real number 7, it may be a renumber of a broken piece, or it may not. I have heard that sometimes when a piece is broken and you send in the flag HL will reissue a piece with the same number, and if the production has changed it could account for the low number on a mold 2. Even though the number is different in style than any other that I have seen, I have also found that the styles of numbers has changed over the years, and even on the same piece at different production stages. I could also account for the numnber being different by someone that had a number that had faded partially, or completly, out taking the initative to make their piece better by giving it a low number. Another option is this could be one of the unnumbered artists proofs that someone took a liberty with. The part that I can't justify is that the number falls in the range of the first 10 that are held by the Youngers, and I've never seen one of these, so they may be numbered differently. The closest I have see is a #16. Bottom line, the piece is for real, and the price is well below the market for just a few years ago. In fact if this piece was truely numbered by HL then this may be a exceptional buy. Russ if you are unsure about this piece I will be glad to trade my verified #2850 mold two, which I paid a higher price, for this piece, just to releive your doubts about it's authenticity. No matter what you have made a good deal and the important point is that you enjoy it and feel it was a good purchase for you.