NEW BOYS IN TOWN

Diggory Hadoke welcomes Lonsdales to the increasing number of auctioneers recognising the value of the shooting pound, and looks forward to some big nights to come

A deepening storm is gathering in the provinces. More and more guns are appearing in local sales and the chatter on the breeze says that fear of a lead ban is prompting older shooters to turn their guns in for sale, while that is still optional rather than imposed.

While it is true that Holts and Gavin Gardiner travel untold miles offering free valuations and taking consignments, for some not based in the south, dealing with their own local auctioneer is perceived as easier and preferable.

Such sentiment has created a new sporting guns auction in the north. Lonsdales Auctioneers have announced their inaugural sale on 9 November.

The sale includes Purdey, Woodward, Holland & Holland and Dickson shotguns, as well as rifles by Weatherby and David Lloyd. Usefully, they also hold Section 5 authority and can dispose of pistols and other prohibited weapons if necessary.

Part of the strategy Lonsdales have employed is to partner with several other auctioneers across the region who get occasional firearms but lack the facilities or expertise to handle them comfortably. Lonsdales takes them on.

Lonsdales Auctioneers are based near Kirkby Lonsdale, close to the M6 and just an hour from the Scottish border. The catalogue is available now at auctions.lonsdalesauctioneers.com and bidding is also available via The Saleroom or Invaluable, if you don’t mind paying the added fees for using those sites. Lonsdales themselves charge a seller’s commission of 15% on the hammer price. Buyer’s commission is 20%, making a total of 35% of the value of the sale going to the auctioneer.

Wilson55

Another auctioneer located away from the traditional southern hub is Wilson55, in Nantwich, and they hold a sale the day before Lonsdales, on 8 November. This is a two-day sale of ‘Firearms, Shotguns, Airguns, Arms & Militaria’.

The catalogue, available now at wilson55.com, is heavy with collectibles, including a large number of flint and percussion pistols, 19th-century rifles and a shotgun or two.

Notable is a .451 Whitworth target rifle circa 1858, numbered 154 and believed to be an early experimental version of what became a very successful competition target rifle.

There is a good smattering of classic air rifles, including Weihrauch HW35s and BSA Airsporters— the kind of things my friends and I had when we were youths in the 1980s.

If anyone is looking to decorate a man cave or study, there are several interesting choices, like Africa tribal knobkerries and Polynesian war clubs, and if you always secretly wanted a German helmet, or even a Third Reich Imperial battle flag, now is your chance to actually buy one!

The sale also contains a lot of Pedersoli and Parker Hale modern reproduction muzzle-loading firearms and shotguns.

Bloomfields

While these two sales appeal to mainstream shooters, there was one this month that was very much for the specialist collectors. Bloomfield Auctions in Belfast sold what was billed as ‘The Leslie Martin Collection’, which was predominantly flintlock and percussion pistols of Irish origin. Among the collection was a large number of firearms by John Rigby of Dublin and the firm that preceded it, William & John (W&J) Rigby.

The most impressive was a 32-bore, hand rotated, seven barrel carbine, with sprung bayonet. Made around 1838, it is extremely rare, in remarkable condition and listed with an estimate of £45,000£50,000—quite a hike from the original 1838 sale price of £34.13s.0d.

There was also a very good .451 target rifle by Rigby, made around 1860 and possibly used by the Irish team in competition with an American team in 1874 and 1875 on both sides of the Atlantic. The price expectation for this was £12,000 to £14,000, which I thought optimistic, but with provenance you can never be sure how bidding will go.

One of the premier rifle trophies is the Elcho Shield, which was first presented in 1865. It was commissioned by Lord Elcho as a prize for competing teams from England and Scotland shooting at long range. Before it was finished a sketch of it and later a plaster version were presented instead. As the actual shield was six foot high, each member of the winning eight was presented with a small silver copy, paid for by the losers.

I bought one such silver trophy in October at Bloomfields. It was awarded to one of the Irish eight who won in 1877—Irish and Welsh teams having by then been added to the list of competitors.

Among the Irish team was none other than gunmaker John Rigby, who was a very accomplished rifle shot. Team photographs, sold with the shield, depict John Rigby and his fellows with the full sized Elcho shield and their rifles. I cannot say for sure that this shield was the one presented to John Rigby, but the odds are one in eight!

It now resides with John Rigby & Co. in Pensbury Place, London, where visitors can see and touch a piece of history, very much related to the company, whose rifles were so well loved by long range competition shooters.

The big boys

Gavin Gardiner has closed entries for his 15 November sale and the catalogue should be available shortly at gavingardiner.com. Holts already have a big list of guns, rifles and accessories, which can be viewed at holtsauctioneers.com.

Having just sold off a huge number of bargainbasement type kit in their online no-reserve auction,

Bonhams have a sale in London on 23 November and their website has a preview of five lots to whet the appetite at bonhams.com.

These include a composed pair of early 1900s Boss sidelocks and some minty Purdeys of various ages, from the 1950s to the 1990s, with estimates fro £18,000 to £60,000. Bonhams have had some important and interesting sales lately, so keep an eye on the catalogue as it develops.

There has been some encouraging news from the Gun Trade Association with regard to the imposition of a lead shot and projectile ban. That, of course is expected to have an impact on gun and rifle prices, as shooters have to decide what to do when or if lead ceases to be available. Auctions have already begun to see resultant consignments from people deciding to give up voluntarily before they have no choice.

The latest view is that, largely due to effective representations by the GTA, the Health & Safety Executive has dropped the push to ban the use and sale of lead bullets for hunting and the use and sale of lead airgun pellets. There will be restrictions on lead bullets for target shooting but there will be exceptions for suitable ranges, which can contain and extract spent bullets.

Lead shot is still on the way out, with a ban on sales and use except for a small number of international class competitors who may represent the country in international clay shooting competitions. For the rest of us, the HSE is pushing for legislation that will deliver a total ban, with a five-year period to allow the industry to make the necessary changes to comply without catastrophic business losses and inability to meet the demand for lead alternatives.

I know a lot of Americans have been holding off buying British guns in anticipation of a UK price crash (many have told me so) but it looks like they will have to wait a while longer. While many big commercial shoots are already insisting on non-lead