Lord Ripon's Purdey shotgun to go under the hammer

Lord Ripon’s Purdey 12-bore shotgun is estimated to fetch £45,000.

By Barnaby Dracup

Monday, 13 July 2009

A shotgun that once belonged to one of Britain’s greatest Shots, Lord Ripon, is expected to fetch up to £45,000 when it is auctioned on 24 August.

The rare Purdey 12-bore hammer ejector gun is the number one gun of a pair specially built for Lord Ripon in 1895.

The number two gun was sold in 1999 for £40,250 after previously fetching £14,300 in 1985. From 1867 to 1923, Lord Ripon accounted for 556,813 head of game.

He meticulously maintained his gamebook, which records that in more than 46 years he shot 97,503 grouse, 11,258 partridges, 2,454 woodcock, 2,882 snipe, 3,452 wild duck, 30,280 hares, 34,118 rabbits and 382 red deer.

Auctioneer, Gavin Gardiner, commented: “I am extremely pleased to have been asked to sell this gun, which has such wonderful provenance. I have been working as an expert within the sporting gun field for more than 20 years and nothing causes more excitement among collectors than anything associated to the magnificent Lord Ripon.”

For more information, visit http://www.gavingardiner.com

Wednesday 24 April 1985,Sotheby,s lot 470, 12 bore hammer ejector gun #14982, by J.Purdey & son, #2 of a pair built for Lord Ripon[as Earl de Grey] sold for 14,300 pounds stirling, including 10% buyers premium![ Sotheby estimate was 3500-4500 pounds!] With this potential return, why risk the the stock exchange?

Sounds to me like that Purdey might be wore out....

jOe
I can imagine you as a young boy placing a paper bag full of dog crap on your neighbors front door step, lighting it on fire and then ringing his doorbell... LOL
Steve

"556,813 head of game"....

I figure he had to miss a few times that's a lot of shooting even for a Purdey.

If my figures are correct (and they may not be) those numbers work out to almost 30 animals per day, every day, over 70 years of hunting. I have to believe those numbers were fudged a bit:-)

JIm

Those are staggering numbers of course, but when you are bagging 300 - 1000 birds a day the numbers really add up :-). A couple of books provide detailed summary of Ripon's very detailed game books. According to the references, the daily numbers are corroborated by other sources (e.g., shooters on the same shoots.) I'll see if i can dig out a copy of the game book and post it on the board. It is impressive - everything from rhinos to grouse are listed.

Ken

It didn't say he shot them all with that gun.

My guess is he, being of proper British manner and upbringing, would simply request that that animals line up in a forthright fashion, whereupon he would use a single solid jacketed bullet to pierce the heads of as many as 75 critters at a time.

... Also, the pound and dollar were almost even in the mid 80's, not the $1.75 to the pound we see these days.

Was the #2 gun that was sold in 1985 purchased by Cyril Adams?

Sounds to me like that Purdey might be wore out....

That was the funny

Judging from the way he fussed over his game book, I'm willing to bet his guns were meticulously maintained by Pudeys

CJ

Further to my earlier post, here is some additional information taken from the Sotheby catalogue of 1985.
The gun was rebarreled by Atkin in 1928[30 inch chopper lump steel barrels with 2 1/2 chambers]. The work was carried out for Mr C.Julian, keeper to C,Viner. Previously, Mr Julian was head keeper to Lord Rippon.
Included in the lot with the gun was the keepers game book for Studley Royal,for the years 1893-1929.This book records that Mr Julian on occasion participated as a gun in the shooting at Studley Royal.In addition the lot included a chart showing game killed by Lord Rippon between 1867-1900 plus several news-paper cuttings showing Lord Rippon shooting with his hammer ejectors.There can be little doubt that the later items increased the price realised.
Lord Rippon usually shot with a trio of guns. Pictures of one of these trio,s is featured on the dust wrapper of Cyril Adams & Robert Bradens excellent book, "Lock Stock and Barrel"

I have read that Lord Rippon was one of the best shots of his day or any day. One story reported that while shooting his trio of guns he had shot and killed six different birds in such rapid succession that all six dead birds where in the air, falling to the ground, at the same time. We should not judge his total bird kill against today's restricted limits and today's much different moral judgments about hunting and limits. Men and times change and the norm was for the rich to shoot high numbers of game as both entertainment and a way to show their skills. In many ways I wish that I had been one of them. But then I would be long dead had I been and HomelessJoe might own my guns today and cut them down for his cowboy action shooting.

The rich in the UK still shoot lots of birds. They just don't write about it in the newpaper anymore unless it's some liberal trying to paint them red.

DLH

KJ...We've saw several of my guns. I've been waiting over 3 years to see a photo of one of guns.

For a guy that talks of guns but has never posted a picture of one of his supposed treasures....that's pretty lame calling a me cowboy action shooter.

The story about 7 birds dead in the air has been reported numerous times. Apparently, Lord Ripon was a good shot, but also a good self-promoter. An article in one of the British magazines (either "The Field" or "Shooting Gazette") disproved the Lord's claim by calculating the most optomistic time it would take for a high pheasant to fall to ground (even into a valley) and showing that no one would be able to shoot the next six birds and switch guns three times in that time.

I heard he shot two birds that were mating, and the mama bird laid the egg in flight, which then hatched and he shot the chick as well, but only after he had given it time to learn to fly on its own.

A little overkill if you ask me. I think this dude was just a tad out side of the true sportsman's boundry.

Tim

If Lord Ripon had made it Argentina dove shooting I bet his kill numbers would've topped a million.

Not only that Greg he managed to do it 500,000 times!! What luck or was it his keen eye for spotting and shooting flying pregnant pheasants?
This guy is a complete bull sh!tter, no, excuse me, a world class bull sh!tter and a few paid buddies, more likely his employees, "You like your job, old chap, then play along to get along", backing him up in his exaggerated claims doesn't help!!

Jeeez, just think how many birds he could have killed with a AA12

It's a wonder he didn't have black lung from shooting all that black powder.

I like the story about how he got pissed at another shooter that was poaching his birds. He proceeded to shoot every bird that flew toward his competition, and shot all of his own as well. Dropping lefts and rights with astounding accuracy, at extreme distances. The other gun got no further shooting that day.
I have been known to do this, but for different reasons.