BY JAMES PURDEY, 4 PRINCES STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON, NO. 374, CIRCA 1822

Details

A Rare 6-Bore Percussion Sporting Gun
By James Purdey, 4 Princes Street, Leicester Square, London, No. 374, circa 1822
With browned twist barrel and brass fore-sight, case-hardened patent breech with two platinum lines, pierced platinum plug, and platinum-lined maker's stamp, finely engraved tang, signed case-hardened serial numbered lock finely engraved with foliage terminating in monsters and with integral back-shield, the interior with pierced bridle, figured walnut half-stock (butt extended), chequered grip and fore-end, iron mounts engraved with scrollwork, foliage, and an urn on the bow of the trigger-guard, silver escutcheon, two barrel-bolts, horn fore-end cap, and original brass-mounted ramrod, London proof mark
31in. (78.8cm.) barrel

Literature

L. Patrick Unsworth, The Early Purdeys, pp. 32-3, 182, plate 16

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

This, and double shotgun No. 349, are the two earliest Purdey original percussion cap guns. Both have the back-shield integral with the lock, and both have platinum plugs. They were made no more than eighteen months after percussion caps came into general use, and are therefore among the earliest percussion sporting guns built in this country

Christie's gratefully acknowledges the information kindly supplied by the makers on Purdey firearms in this catalogue

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