As a result of going to the Vegas Antique Arms Show, I bought a very rare, cased E. J. Churchill, 410 ga Crown Grade BLE (SN 4614).
I walked by the gun for 2 days before I realized, wait Churchill didn't make XXVs in .410, or if they did, this gun must be really rare. It turns out this gun came from the late Robert Peterson collection. It has been published that Pre-WW2 Churchill catalogs did not list .410s as available.
Barrel address and trade label show Churchill's located at “61 Pall Mall, St. James’s, London, England". (Wrong address for 1931, but more on that later)
“XXV” gold inlaid near breech. The gun has 25” barrels with Churchill rib, choked .002/IC, .012/IM.
Nitro proved, 5 tons per square inch, and marked for 3” shells. Straight stock measuring 14 1/2” to thin horn buttplate.
The gun weighs 4 lbs even.
This gun was one of 10 serial numbers allocated in July 1931 for 3” chambered .410 XXV Crown Grade guns ordered for stock by Churchill possibly from John Harper. The Serial numbers were assigned starting with 4613.
At the time American & British .410s was written, only 5 pre-WW2 Churchill .410s of any configuration had surfaced. The sole XXV .410 was a sibling from my gun's 1931 order, SN 4616.
(American & British .410 Shotguns, Ron Gabriel)
Ron Gabriel's research showed that only 8 of 10 (4613 to 4620) numbers appear to have been used. The guns were retailed from 1932 to 1936.
Only 3 other Churchill XXV .410s have appeared at auction since 1997 when 4616 surfaced.
The auction listings.
4613, BLNE, Sotheby’s 2006 (Lead gun of the 1931 order)
4614, BLE, Little John’s Auction Service 2011 (my gun)
4615, BLE, Christie’s, 2001
4616, BLE, Holt’s, 1997
As you look at the pictures you'll notice the action has lost it's case coloring, but the blueing of the barrels and furniture is nearly perfect. The checkering is crisp and the stock is nearly perfect. A refinish? Perhaps. I am leaning toward a rebarreling/refurbish in 1978 by Churchill.
There is a Birmingham view mark for 1978. The proof marks are the one's in use from 1954-1989. The barrel engraving, trade label and Churchill box of bore swabs all use the 61 Pall Mall address. In the Churchill book, Don Masters has a photo of the trade label used in my case. The description of the photo says it was only used from 1978-1981 (The House of Churchill, pg 456.)
Toby Barclay, Heritage Guns, told me once that when a gun is rebarreled in the UK, the firm doing the work can only engrave their firm's name on the barrels unless they are the actual maker or licensed by the actual maker. Therefore it was either rebarreled by Churchill or someone in the trade allowed to use the Churchill name on their work. It would have been equally correct to put the current address on the barrels when the work was done. (Brits please correct me if I understand this incorrectly.)
I want to offer a special thanks to our own DGM. He was in Vegas helping me shop. DGM also helped me with the Internet research.
Rocketman will want to add this to his database the next time we get together. The Southern in April?
All this research has yet to reveal, who does Churchill records these days?
Joe
