doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Robert Lisle Shotgun.

Picked this up this morning:



Just a plain boxlock non-ejector. Not something I would be looking for but I have an interest in guns made locally to where I live. This by Lisle of Derby, England. 12 bore, 30" steel barrels, nitro proof 2 1/2" chambers sometime between 1904 and 1925. No address on the top rib so I can't narrow it farther than that. Two very, very small barrel dents and could do with tightening slightly. Well in proof on both barrels. Slight internal blemishes which should polish out without requirement to re-proof. Otherwise a plain honest working gun. Bought it for the princely sum of £40 so worth the trouble of the minor work needed.

Next photo shows the curious Trade Mark of Lisle's which is that of a tiger on the trigger guard bow. He did name some of his cartridges as the Tiger Brand. No idea of the origins of the trade mark but I have seen it on all Lisle's guns except ones of the very lowest quality which were made on a Ward's 'Target' action. I'd love to find out why a tiger mark. Lagopus.....

Might have been an export gun to India.

Maybe in the case of Robert Lisle. He was only in business from the late 1890's until 1930 which were the golden days of Empire. That tiger must have meant something to him as there certainly aren't many wild tigers in Derby. They were all like this one and crudely engraved with a rather surprised expression. Not a high grade gun by any stretch of the imagination but my collection was lacking an example by this person. I intend to just tidy it up a bit; slight cosmetic things, raise the dents and generally leave it as it is. Lagopus.....

lago, do you have an idea as to "who" would have done such, well - ahemm - frankly, crude engraving? Not to dis your gun, but by the time frame you cited, animal engraving was getting a lot better. I find it astounding that scroll and plant engraving could have been so well developed in the late 1800's and animals usually weren't even good grade cartoon characters.

I recall a while back where someone was re-importing the SxS's that were exported to India years ago.

The Tiger says India to me.

Hi all, here's an example of a R.L. Sidelock that looks to be a higher grade gun. If you look at the trigger guard,there's the Tiger! I doubt that this gun was an export to India.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/conten...erarchyId=11655

I have no clue about the tiger. Just throwing this out, did he or his Father/Granddad serve in India?

Anyway Mike for what you paid, I think you did fine. I can just guess what the price would be here.

Congrats and I hope you have many happy and healthy years shooting her.

All the best!

Greg

Maybe the engraver liked Corn Flakes ? (Get it....Tony the Tiger)

Why would you doubt it ever went to India...some of the highest grade English guns ever built went to the Maharajahs...I'm sure some the peons had shotguns.

I think that Cabella's gun has been in several dealers for awhile. I remember the right side of the stock with the small line of figure going vertical.

Regards, Gordon

I wonder if Lisle himself engraved the Tiger. All the ones I have seen have been near identical. It was his trade mark although he never made guns. In Boothroyds book on Over/Unders he shows a Celtic engraved Lisle and I have found them from the crude to the elegant; whatever the customer wanted. I would suspect a possible Indian conection maybe with a family member serving there but I doubt if this particular gun ever left Derbyshire Joe. Dickson of Edinburgh had a lion as a trade mark but this came from a stuffed one that he had in his shop window. I have searched through a good many old photos of Derby but never yet found one showing Lisle's shop.

Looking at the Cabelas gun; if you enlarge the shot of the trigger guard there is the same old tiger crudely engraved and yet the rest of the gun has been quite well executed. Perhaps it will remain a mystery. I shall be going down to Derby library to do some research on another previously unknown (to me anyway) Derby Gunmaker trading as Sporting Gun and Cartridge Company, Derwent St., Derby so I will have look at the trade directories of that period and see if I can shed any light on this little mystery.

Rocketman don't worry you won't be able to disrespect this particular gun as it is of very low quality. Saying that even the better ones had the same old tiger peeping out of the bushes, that's what leads me to believe that it was Lisle's own handywork. None of the other local Derby Gunmakers had a trade mark of any kind. I just bought this as an example for my collection so that I one of his guns.

Greg, tidied up a bit it would look o.k. It came from a dealer who had taken on another retired dealer's old stock. He wanted rid. It was a case of please make me an offer. We valued it as between £30 and £50 with respect to the work that it required and setttled on 40. Most of the other stuff was poor quality wall hanger grade. There was a Belgian boxlock that with a bit of tlc might have looked alright and a Baikal side by side hammer gun in excellent condition, that would have been great for one of these cowboy action shoots in America, that I could have had for nothing but I would have no use for it. Lagopus.....

Any family Connection to the lisle/Lysle family famous in England/World for their golden syrup/treacle.This family used a lion as their trade mark?