doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Any reports from Vegas???

Well...anything pop up in Vegas? Anything special walk in?

Anyone come home with a new toy?

OWD

I bought an HH Hieser Leg o Mutton that was completely tooled. My Dad was a saddler and I was State Champion in the craft in my younger days. To my eye the tooling was perfect, most of what you see out there is junk. Hieser and Co were true leather craftsman.

There were 3 Boss 20 ga O/U's there from Lewis Drake's 250k down to 110k, with Steve Barnett's in the middle. Lot of big time dealers that are there always were not there. I can't remember the last time Griffin and Howe wasn't there

I thought it was a pretty good show. Ivory Beads had most of their inventory there. It was their last show, I'm told, before they close forever. Very nice guys! I saw numerous good to great buys on Ithaca NID's. Lot's of overpriced stuff too! I bought home a Remington era Trojan 16ga. and a 1927 GHE 16 for very fair prices. Made a mistake and shoulda bought a 10ga. GHE on set up afternoon. it was gone the next morning. Somebody got a terrific deal! There was a very decent NID 28ga. Skeet gun with all the extras except a VR and it sold quickly. The Wes Adams collection was in a separate room and i have NEVER seen a nicer collection of Winchesters and Marlins. They were extraordinary. It is estimated they will fetch over 10 million at auction this year.

Any Lefever sightings? What about nice W&C Scott's?

Whose 20g Boss was the nicest?

Thanks

OWD

My impressions (and simply impressions, no data to back it up):
Slightly better attendance than last year.
Fewer high grade guns for sale by individuals vs dealers
The "Big Boy" room definitely less populated.
Still more walking around with "Exhibitors" tags than just walk-ins.
Can't comment about sales volume since I wasn't selling.
Had a great time.
I'll be surprised if the Riviera lasts more than 2 more years.

We had a very comfortable show. More than enough sales of guns and accessories, not to mention making many new friends and customers, to make it worth the 1000's of miles travelling, the slightly dodgy hotel room and the tobacco fug on route through the casino!

Friday morning was frantic: we had so many people on the stand that I didn't get fully set up until about noon! Saturday had its busy moments but was rather more calm. Sunday was good for catching up on lost sleep!

I personally don't like the high drapes between the booths but otherwise I thought the lay out was good.

People said very nice things about our stock and respective prices so I have come away feeling good about myself! In these difficult times I feel it was a success for us.

I would like to say a big thank you to Joe, Darrel and Patti who all helped immensley and plied me with liquid refreshment and nourishment on a regular basis.

Lastly, can I encourage anybody looking for sensibly priced wood and a HUGE choice of blanks to check out Mr Cecil Fredi. I visited him today in LV and was astounded by what he had in stock and his vast knowledge of the subject. Picked out 2 blanks with great difficulty as the choice was so huge, one for a current project, one for the next.

A 12-gauge, FE-Grade, Ansley H. Fox moved very quickly. There was a No. 7E NID Ithaca 12-gauge on the magnum-frame, with all the bells and whistles. I think it was No. 500035. It was gone by late Friday. A friend bought two NID Ithaca 10-gauges, one Super-Ten and one Magnum-Ten. A very cool little late Remington era Parker 28-gauge VHE-grade with single trigger, beavertail, vent rib and no safety was marked sold according to the last report I heard. It was a well worn plantation quail gun, but very unique in that configuration. CSMC were showing their new Baby-Frame RBL-.410, Inverness 20-gauge boxlock over/under, and .22 LR Tommy Gun, as well lots of their other great products. No one had a smallbore Remington Model 31 Skeet Gun for me, so I gave Lou my credit card for an RBL-.410.

20 Ga Boss..............mine of course...........LOL. Lewis's was a sight to behold though

Mine - I am partial to it because of the Sumner engraving--not a perfect gun by any means but special to me







Lewis's took your breath away at how unused and unrestored it is




Barnett's was special as well - just from a much later era where engraving was entirely different





Gun of the show for me was Morris Hallowel's 16 bore Woodward, its was all there and perfect in every respect



This my friends is perfect French Teyssier walnut of a bygone era, would bring tears to the eyes of a dead snake. I have never seen wood of this quality on a vintage Purdey. Boss and Woodward always upstaged them in the Golden Age. My lousy photo of it does it no justice, its grain and figure was absolutely mezmerizing in the flesh





Still for me the room to be in hands down is the tried and true Antiques room, I had a small booth in the Big Room years ago and there are just less people walking around, less commoradery and people to commiserate with

Toby, I have been to see Mr Fredi several times. Was blown away by the assortment he had. So unexpected. Btw he also has a few lovely mounts. Did you get a chance to see them?

Show was fun. The people with two year ago prices didn't sell anything. Those who had reasonable prices had a good show.

I went looking for a SBT LC smith. Fell in love with a Late vintage Ithaca 4e SBT and got it at a great price. (Sorry Elsie)

Had a good time. Met my old shooting busy who moved away and brought two newbies who, like my 1st time, were a bit overwhelmed. Shot some sporting clays on Sunday morning at Desert Lakes in Boulder City. GREAT COURSE. Lots of longer shots appropriate for our full choked vintage guns.

Also found a good mexican restaurant if anyone is interested.

Lots of cigars and scotch... Life is good!

Jerry

Canvasback,
Yes, while I waited for his lovely wife to give me lift back to the hotel, he said I might like to 'have a little browse in here' and flicked a light switch. I have never seen so many mounted beasts in one place. Seemed like Africa had been transported into his living room. Quite stunning.
He cirtainly indulges his interests with vigour!

The Boss OU's are great, but I wish the Brits had figured out a way to hide the proofmarks so they're not visible when the gun is assembled and the action closed.

While I don't like the new metric proof marks, I've always thought they lend macho character to some of these guns, still some of the most beautiful and graceful guns in the world

More like a beautiful woman with a scar on her cheek, for me.

Hate to hear that Ivory Beads might be closing. Jim & Jerry are a couple of stand up nice guys for sure. Did you hear if there was a reason for closing?

Did anyone attending this show happen to see a guy with both a cased Purdey and a cased Boss for sale? Oh and he also has a 14ga DH Parker.
All of these guns were fresh out-of-the-woodwork and needed some attention.
Since he wasn't at the Crossroads show I suspect he was there in Vegas.
Jim

It was my 1st trip to Vegas.

There was the Francotte drilling. It was all 12 gauge with 3 triggers at Steve Barnett's (sold an hour after I looked). Nothing and I mean NOTHING, says "full use of gun" like a 3 barrelled 12.

Other cool stuff I saw that went quickly, a stunning Blanch 12 BLE, an AYA #2, 20 SLE, a set of 32" Win21 bbls < $2k. There was a very nice Rossen 12 BLE at fair price that was still around on Sunday. Not everything got sold the 1st day.

Gary D. of Osprey brought a cased 12 Purdey hammergun. I looked under a compartment cover in the case and it had the gun's SN hidden underneath, confirming the correct original case from the 1880s. I took a photo because I had never seen an SN hidden in a case before.

Tom Bryant, of Cabelas, has been my shooting buddy since age 12 (now 50+ but don't ask). My wife, Patti and I were thrilled to meet many great western friends of his at the show. The only thing that would have been more fun, would have been if Tom could have been there with us.

Kirby Hoyt sold a stunning cased pair of Holland 12 SLEs. The case contained a great assortment of original accessories. The guns have been in the US for a long time and need some restoration that Toby Barclay of Heritage Guns agreed to undertake.

I bought a 20 gauge metal-clipped cartridge belt, a Churchill 12 ga handguard and the Churchill book. I bought a XXV 12 before Christmas and consider it required reading.

There were no accessory dealers. If you wanted a nice gun slip, speed bag, modern makers case, new handguards in any gauge, Hulme stuff, Mulholland products, there were no dealers. Maybe next year?

Joe

I spun some interesting guns, esp. the Lefevers, and had a ball yacking with anyone interested in gun handling. More later when I get the data worked up.

Toby Barclay had a wonderful Holland & Holland damascus hammer gun. MW Reynolds displayed a matched pair of sidelever Henry Atkins sidelocks that certainly caught a vintagers eye.

Among the rarities: Steve Barnett had what I understand is the only Purdey 410-10 gauge five gun set ever made. William Larkin Moore had one of the only 40 AYA Seniors (an exact copy of a Purdey-Beasley self opening action) ever made.

The H&H hammer gun, the Grant side-lever hammer gun and the cased Purdey bar-in-wood hammer gun stayed with me in the US. If anyone has interest, questions, needs or photos, just let me know. (Dave will get his $10).
It costs too much to just bring the guns back and forth across the pond. If Toby doesn't have a UK show, I park the guns in the vault until the next US show.
Details and photos are on Toby's website;

http://heritageguns.co.uk/hgframset.htm

Joe

The H&H hammer gun, the Grant side-lever hammer gun and the cased Purdey bar-in-wood hammer gun stayed with me in the US. If anyone has interest, questions, needs or photos, just let me know. (Dave will get his $10).
It costs too much to just bring the guns back and forth across the pond. If Toby doesn't have a UK show, I park the guns in the vault until the next US show.
Details and photos are on Toby's website;

http://heritageguns.co.uk/hgframset.htm

Joe

I really enjoyed Toby's stand at the show, it was filled with unique items with a novel approach. His stand was a neat "bit of kit" for sure

There were more Flli Rizzini's at the show then I've seen before in one place. I thought the most striking guns at the show were the pair of Rizzini 12 gauge R-1E's Hallowell had on sale for $80K for the PAIR. They may have also been the "bargain" of the show at that price.

Here's the $80K PAIR Hallowell had on display: http://www.hallowellco.com/rizzini%2012ga%20pair.htm

A single, nearly identical 20 gauge sold at Julia's auction for $92K:

http://collectorebooks.com/jamesauction/shotguns/32847.htm

And a nearly identical single 16 gauge sold for $86K

http://collectorebooks.com/jamesauction/shotguns/32845.htm

12 Bores,Pads and Beavertails are the only thing I see with Morris's guns holding them back. While both useful in the field, they kill Art Gun value, so they are priced accordingly. Thats why Purdey & Boss O/U's small bore fetch 3x more than their 12 bore brethren Very nice guns BTW

I think there are more R1s on the market right now than it can ever absorb. That and Fabbris.

The market is drowning in that stuff.

Looks like FL real estate in '06.

OWD

Spaghetti guns aplenty....LOL!!

Somehow, Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns are still the best "American" westerns, so perhaps similarly the Italians might make the best "English" guns as well!

The things that jumped out in looking at the high grade Rizzini's and Piotti's at the show was how flawless the wood to metal fit is and the crispness of the engraving. The really deep red stock finish on the Rizzini's doesn't come through on the web photos either.

No wonder Purdey has Perugini & Visini building their Sporters, and EJ Churchill now has Perazzi building theirs.

No doubt the Italians know their guns and metalwork.....thats not the issue. As Gregg pointed out above, there is a finite demand that is more than being filled. Same can be said about the top line makers in all countries including England. There are only so many Dave Perrets, Ron Holdens, Bob Lees in the world. Thats why Toby's booth there was so refreshing. New products, new slant on the gun trade that I think will bear fruit going forward.

BTW, Purdey does 60% of the work on their Sporter, albeit on a P & V action. I regularly tour the factory, parts of those guns are strewn all over the place. Not my cup of tea-- I'll bust clays with a Perazzis

Couldn't agree more. We've been very fortunate here out East to have Toby, and previously his colleague Bob Brown, introduce many of us (including me) to fun of collecting and shooting vintage English hammer guns at events like the Vintage Cup and Southern SXS shoots. The work they've done finding, restoring and bringing over these lost treasures from across the pond has really sparked an interest in true vintage guns and brought a lot of enjoyment to a lot of collectors and shooters.