doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Interesting English boxlock ejector at Hallowell

GREAT info, Graham. Good to have your input here.

Best,
Ted

Your purposes clearly do not involve being carried on a palanquin everywhere you go.

Aaahhh. Merci. I'd had no idea.

I guess what I'm after is, how unusual is it to see an ornately fully-finished no-name in circulation? Of that origin and vintage? I mean, I vaguely remember seeing pictures of some same-period continental shotguns dressed to the nines with pearls 'round their necks and bearing no discernible provenance, but never something English.

That action looks a lot like a facile princeps. I am not saying it is one. Just that the resemblance is strong. Nice gun though.

No name quality guns separate wheat from the chaff, the shotgun fanciers from those that really appreciate good work. I have seen supposedly knowledgeable "collectors"reject superbly made guns for the lack of a name and pay dearly for named iffy ones .

wonderful imagery...

It is certainly a BSA, they were all made with an action body shape similar to the Facile Princeps but were of course A&D actions.



Note the action shape and screw and pins placement on the BSA BLE “specially made for Fletchers of Gloucester”.



And the shape of the bottom plate (loads of room for engraving).



Dovetailed chopper lumps.

Sooo … inside my £150 (if I am lucky) BSA lurks a $6,995 best boxlock just waiting to be liberated by a good action filer, engraver and stocker (the existing walnut, straight grained with a “fiddle back” ain’t bad).

I believe BSA directors and senior employees may have used De Luxe models.

I wonder if one of them made this anonymous example as a “show and tell” gun - “Who do you think made this?”

You could, of course, do the same with a Baikal although your barrel man might wear out a few files striking down the barrels to achieve acceptable handling qualities

It would be pretty expensive (unless the customer’s name was Vladimir Putin when it would probably be FOC).

Nobody is likely to pay 7,000 for a no name box lock. Asking and getting are two different things. For seven grand you can find a not too worn out named London side lock. I suspect if you looked hard you could find a few $7,000 box locks but only a few. The tip of an iceberg.

I wonder who made it, and then why. Was it by request of a buyer? Was it done by someone in the trade as a proof of what could be done if money was no object? You can’t build a reputation for fine work without a signature. Perhaps it was done in the trade for personal use.

One other thought. What would it be worth with a name? I don’t know if I’d pay $7,000 with a name. It is what it is. A highly finished box lock, in a world which sells equal finished side plates for more than box locks.