AN HISTORIC PAIR OF J. PURDEY HAMMER GUNS FROM THE W. KEITH NEAL COLLECTIONA PAIR OF J. PURDEY 1863 & 1865 PATENTS 12-BORE HAMMER GUNS BY J. PURDEY, NO. 7231 (NO.1) AND 7675 (NO.2)

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WILLIAM KEITH NEAL William Keith Neal (1905-1990) was the greatest and most dedicated collector of antique firearms in the last century, and perhaps of all time. Louis XIII, probably the greatest gun collector, is known to have developed an interest by the age of ten - Keith Neal used to demand to be taken to look at old cannon at Deal Castle when he was still in his pram, and to the end his enthusiasm never dimmed . Born at Boxmoor, Hertfordshire, the son of a Baptist minister, on 11th November 1905, he acquired hos first pistol in a Broadstairs antique shop while at his preparatory school at Berkhamsted and the pistol is still in his collection today. After attending the City of London School he joined his uncle's firm in London, before ill-health forced a move to the country. There he worked with the distinguished Bath portrait photgrapher Herbert Lambert. During these years his collection grew steadily, without parental support, limited only by his financial resources. In the 1930s he began reassembling the Packington gun cabinet originally formed by the 4th Earl of Aylesford (1751-1812). These untouched long arms, nearly all dating from 1725 to 1795, were to become the nucleus of his unrivalled group of English sporting guns. By 1937, the date of the International Hunting Exhibition in Berlin, he was already an established expert. His contributuion to the prize-winning British Section of the exhibition was rewarded by a medal presented by Goering, who had performed the opening ceremony. At the British Sporting Exhibition in London in January of the following year he was responsible for a display showing the developments of firearms over three hundred years. His own collection was sufficiently extensive to provide sixty-two of the weapons which he was on hand to demonstrate. The catalogue refers to him as "the well known collector and expert". In 1950 he moved to Bishopstrow, the imposing Regency house near Warminster which was to be his home until he settled in Guernsey in 1976. Bishopstrow provided a magnificent backdrop to the most important antique gun collection in private hands, and became the Mecca for collectors and students throughout the world. It was also the centre of learning where from the 1950s a series of standard reference works mainly on British firearms were produced, nearly all in collaboration with his friend Major David Back. These joint publications drew heavily on his own collection and photographic skills and included The Mantons (1967),Forsyth & Co. (1969), and Great British Gunmakers 1740-1790 (1975). They were followed by British Gunmakers, Their Trade Cards, Cases and Equipment(1980), and Great British Gunmakers 1540-1740(1984). However, guns were not his only subject. He was also an expert railway telegraph insulators (on which he also wrote two books), steam engines, and vintage Bentley motor cars. Keith Neal's interest had always been in his own words "that of a shooter first and a collector afterwards. All my life my first thought on finding a gun has been does it fit me? Can I shoot with it?". His extraordinary feel for wood and metal was complemented by a love of field sports, and of the countryside and its traditions. He was also thoroughly conversant with contemporary gunmaking and served thrice as Master of the Gunmakers' Company.

AN HISTORIC PAIR OF J. PURDEY HAMMER GUNS FROM THE W. KEITH NEAL COLLECTION A PAIR OF J. PURDEY 1863 & 1865 PATENTS 12-BORE HAMMER GUNS BY J. PURDEY, NO. 7231 (NO.1) AND 7675 (NO.2)

Details

AN HISTORIC PAIR OF J. PURDEY HAMMER GUNS FROM THE W. KEITH NEAL COLLECTION
A PAIR OF J. PURDEY 1863 & 1865 PATENTS 12-BORE HAMMER GUNS BY J. PURDEY, NO. 7231 (NO.1) AND 7675 (NO.2)
Incorporating J. Purdey snap-action thumb-hole underlever patent No. 1104 of 1863 and J. Purdey linked hammer and striker patent No. 424 of 1865, first and second pattern levers, with self-extracting striker action, the non-rebounding backlocks with dolphin hammers of pin-fire form, the breasts of the hammers acting directly on the strikers, best foliate-scroll engraving with some hardening-colour, highly-figured stock (No.1) and well-figured stock (No.2), the browned fine damascus barrels with game-ribs
Weight 6lb. 14½oz. (No.1) and 6lb. 13½oz. (No.2), 14½in. stock (No.1) and 143/8in. stock (No.2), 31in. barrels, all approx. cyl, 2½in. chambers, Black Powder proof (proof exemption)

Provenance

SOLD BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE W. KEITH NEAL FOUNDATION AND
THE DIRECTORS OF CASSONE LTD

Special notice

VAT rate of 17.5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer’s premium.

Sale room notice

Please note that a surcharge of 5 is to be levied on these guns and not 17.5 as indicated against the lot.

Lot Essay

Signed documents in each case record the following:-
'Gun No.7231 was made in 1866 for the Duc de Richelieu but at a later date was bought back by Purdey's and thereafter used for a number of years by James Purdey the Second. Marked No.1'
And:-
'Gun No. 7675 marked No.2 was made in 1868 for the Duc de Richelieu and later bought back by Purdey's and used for a number of years as James Purdey the Second's personal gun'.
Both are signed W. Keith Neal. A further document records that the guns were bought directly by W. Keith Neal from Tom Purdey

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