doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Charlton Hall Auctions

Bushveld: Ron was quite pleased with how the sale went yesterday. There were some real bargains and most items sold well above their minimums. Ron is comitted to the Sporting Sale and 2010 will be the biggest yet. He has the rest of an entire museum collection to be put up yet.

I appraised the Parker VHE .410, which was bought by someone present at the auction, and yes, I believe that he got a heck of a buy. He will be taking the gun to Jim Kelly for total restoration although he does plan to use it on quail (he is the manager/owner of a rather large South Carolina plantation.)

As for the Joseph Manton .500 BPE that you dispareged, it brough $5,100. Pretty good for a 20 year old "waterpipe" don't you think? (It was my gun, by the way)Many of us on this side of the pond can't, or just don't want to travel to the U.K. to buy a gun. Rather than talking CH's efforts down would it not be better to congratulate Ron on his efforts to bring a quality sporting sale to the Deep South?

Just My Humble Opinions.......George

Why restore it if it was a good honest gun?

"....As for the Joseph Manton .500 BPE that you dispareged, it brought $5,100. Pretty good for a 20 year old 'waterpipe' don't you think?"

You asked what I think? Here is what I think: substitue the word "disgraceful" for your words "pretty good".

Bushveld,

Not sure what your agenda is but you seem to be willing the CH venture to fail and are putting a negative spin on all the observations you make. Of course, that is up to you.

However, in point of fact, I was invited to come to S.C this year but I am not an employee of CH and unfortunately this year I was otherwise engaged. Not sure why you feel unable to take this simple point at face value.

Also, though i have been used as a consultant and have valued and catalogued some English guns for CH, I have never been paid to attend the viewing days or deliver lectures. I have done it for expenses alone. I has enabled me to meet some interesting people and do some interesting things.

Regarding what sells for how much at auction, every buyer speds his cash because he has a use for what he buys at the price he pays. I remember a sleeved H&H 'Royal' with an estimate of £2,000 - £3,000 making upwards of £18,000 at Holt's last year. "Disgraceful"?

Hardly - the buyer knew he was buying it and maybe he knew something the rest of us did not. Good luck to him and good luck to whoever bought George's Manton.

There are a number of gun auctions in the UK selling guns from £5 upwards. They all fulfill a need and Holts are included in this -see their sealed bids sale for lower priced fare. BTW - close to 50% went unsold at Holt's last time if I recall.

I think we are all better off if there are a number of 'players' rather than the auction market being dominated by one or two big firms. I'm pleased to see Bonham's and Gavin Gardiner shoring up their ends over here and I hope to see CH do well in the sale they are building for next year. I think you may surprised what they turn up! time.

GregSy: Because that's what he wants to do & since he paid his money he can do what he wants with it.

Bushveld:I would rather substitute the word "envious"

Smallbore: WELL SAID!

Best Regards, George

I wasn't able to attend the auction due to a prior commitment made earlier this year which entailed spending a few days with Memphis gunsmith M.V. Highsmith while my wife, who is a late 1970s Saint Jude survivor, was either registering or running the Saint Jude 1/2 marathon with a full marathon option. But at any rate, I too think moving to their new location was a huge hurdle and hopefully this year it will all come together. I'd say that Rock Island, Holt's, whomever, didn't begin in the state at which they are today and probably begin with a few examples and a hand full of Rook(card) players. So in comparing apples to apples, it is only fair to compare the early states of the aforementioned and CHG. True it is a business but I would consider CHG to be gun/collector friendly and at the very least offer something along our lines of interest. Today the largest lot of folks are anti-gun and anyone in my region making a pro-gun effort deserves my support.

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse

Well said Raimey. I believe that in years to come the naysayers here will have to dine on their words. You just don't get consignments from the likes of the University of Texas or an exquisite silver set by Fabrege (which hammered at a cool $100,000)if you're a second rate auction house.

That said, GOD BLESS SAINT JUDE'S AND DANNY & MARLO THOMAS AND RECENTLY SULLY SULLENBERGER! That's where my extra dollars go.

Best Regards As Always, George

I saw a number of guns that I would have liked to bid on but the descriptions were very incomplete so I did not bid. I would like to see Charlton Hall do well in the gun auction trade. I do think better details are a must. George, since I know you know those folks, give them so help. Also, I think it would be very helpful if they obtained a catalog of Rock Island or Julia Auctions and follow their lead on how to describe guns. I realize they are in a new learning phase, but like the antiques that they have been selling in years past, distant buyers need good descriptions


Best

John Boyd

Since they first started several of us have pointed out on here that they are not set up to encourage phone,absentee bids on the guns.
Unfortunatly the response from the head birddog on here for them has been less then "appreciative" (

Yes better discriptions-again choke,chamber and most of those English doubles did not have barrel thickness listed,pictures.
They also-just has Amoskeag and Juila,stand behind their description-if its not right they will buy it back.
The timing,during the Christmass season and on a weekday seems not get the most buyers to participate-a early fall weekend woudl bring more buyers IMO.
They also need to teach those that answer the phones about shipping and taxes as well as the different FFL requirments for different guns.
As I have said before,probably not a bad one to go to-weekday in the middle of shopping season for the holidays,not "absentee bidder friendly"= less bidders.

"THE HEAD BIRDDOG" has seen very little, other than from Dig & Raimey, to be appreciative about on this thread. In looking through RIA, Julia's & Amoskeg's catalogues I see very little mention of choke, chamber & wall thickness. THAT'S WHAT TELEPHONES ARE FOR! CHG has a toll free number listed & is only too happy to answer such questions on individual guns of interest. They also have an e-mail address & fax number. The folks there who answer the phones are not firearms experts, they are secretaries who take messages & have the appropriate people to call back who have such information. CHG has invested in all types of barrel measuring devices and there are folks there who know how to use them.

The timing of the sale is, perhaps, a point well taken. I will make the suggestion as to the timing of the next sale. However, RIA had theirs on the same weekend & it apparently did very well.
CHG's sales at this auction toppeed $2,000,000 & understandebly they seem to be well pleased.

The data on the various requirements as to shipping and dealing with BATF is all contained in the catalogue, both printed and on line. It seems to me that the naysayers here are probably the ones who never buy anything from auctions anyway. I, personally, bought several items from This CHG sale and several from RIA's December sale. I will, I am sure, submit bids to Holt's and Julia's upcoming sales. I have never returned any gun that I have bought, sight unseen, at auction. Most of the time the condition turns out to be better than I expected.

Best Regards, THE HEAD BIRDDOG