doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Alexander A. Catoire de Bioncourt's Purdey

The Purdey of Alexander Andreyevitch Catoire de Bioncourt
Text and photos by F. Neuberger /WIP
BCOP is the abbreviation for beauty-condition-originality-
provenance. Its the quartette of elements to evaluate/assess
antique objects incl. old guns. While the first 3 are rather
obvious, the last one, the provenance, has a strong bias
in favour of fetishism.
I recall a Churchill pair in the 1990's, which once belonged
to the English prince/then shortterm king Edward/ finally
duke of Windsor after his abdication, selling at 5 times
the usual market price.
Or more recently a Russian czar Purdey, which I have seen at
preauction time and finally selling at x-time the "inherent"
value. According the info from an insider the same amount
spent for refurbishing.
Old-Europe madness on imperial/royal origin may look perverse
to the folks across the pond. But how can one explain the
price of 264000 US-$ realized for the Colt of Bonnie&Clyde.
End of the 1970's when one asked in London on the original
owners name their dry answer was : "It's not ethical to ask".
We are 40 years later and the ownership of the big 3 London
makers has changed and part of Nick Holt's gunauction
show and selling pitch is the provenance freely given/
documented.
But provenance even of non imperial/royal/Bonnie&Clyde
origin, when it emerges from anonymity, may reveal remarkable
personalities/lifes.
So here is one of these.
End 1990's appeared at a London-auction a non-ejector Purdey
- nr. one of a pair - with its typical tight scroll-rose
and with rather unusual engraving pattern on the underside
of the action. The auction-house quoted country of the vendor
Switzerland and whereabout of the pairing gun unknown.
Purdey told that they resold the pair after the original
owner's death to Conte de Bioncourt in 1906.
Bioncourt is a small village in the French Departement
Moselle-Lorraine. A letter to the mayor re possible Bioncourt-
descendants remained unanswered.
Since then the Google-universe has happened.
It provides nearly all the answers to all the questions.
This Conte de Bioncourt of the Purdey archives has been
Alexander Andreyevith Catoire de Bioncourt, a Franco-Russian
aristo, a scion of an old clan famous since the
13th century.
Belonging to a family of merchants/financiers/industrialists
trading in Russia and across the Asian continent and with
philantropic activities.
He had real estate in France, Germany and Switzerland.
But above all and for this matter here a hunter and collector
of gigantic dimensions. His hunting activities spread from
central Asia to western Europe, when travelling has not
been yet a matter of a few hours flight. He ammassed an
enourmous collection of weapons of all kind. He finally
donated more than 600 items to the State Historical Museum
in Moscow together with funds to have it properly displayed.
There exists a book with both Russian and Engish text with
100 of these weapons photographs and descriptions.
Its "A. A. Catoire de Bioncourt's weapons collection"
by Atlant-St. Petersburg (Isbn 5-901555-12-0).
He did not donate all his guns as he still continued to
hunt and passed away 1913 in B�hlertal/Germany.
His adopted daughter married a Frenchman, living then in a
Swiss castle. Their daughter married a Swiss banker, there
exist further descendants.
So here we are, at the entourage of a late Swiss banquier.
The incarnation of discretion and distinction with these
patrician mountaineers of Central Europe. Never conquered/
invaded, never disclosed what fortunes they kept/administered
for their worldwide customers, incl trivial items like
old Purdey guns.
But one should never give up, so I am still trying to unfold
the story/whereabout of the pairing gun ( nr. 13002).
Happy Switzerland neither had the "visit" of the German army
nor that of the Russian army, so there is a chance that the
pairing gun has survived as the nr. one did.
..Photos to follow...

Very interesting:
Please keep us posted regarding future developments.
Jim

Cute.
if my memory serves, de Bioncourt was also a big patron of the theater, and a special fan of Stanislavsky's.

Always interested in these old Purdey and other English shotguns as they surface around the world.

However a Colt doesn't have to be owned by someone to get big money at auctions. It just has to be associated with the opening of the west.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2015/05/historic-colt-paterson-revolver-sells-for-414000/

Gun prices climbed into the stratosphere last month during the 2015 April Premiere Firearms Auction conducted by the Rock Island Auction Company (RIA). The most expensive gun at auction was an historic Colt Paterson, the first-ever factory-engraved Colt handgun. Complete with the original fitted factory case with various accessories, this Paterson inspired a bidding war that saw the price rise to a stunning $414,000. That is an amazingly high price for a gun that was not owned by a well-known historic personage. Generally, to command a price in the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, a gun must have a significant historic provenance � such as having been owned by a legendary figure such as Billy the Kid or Wyatt Earp.

But that ain't nothing when this Colt Paterson showed up,

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2011...ice-at-auction/

The Colt Paterson afterwards designated as the 'Texas' Paterson with its longer and more useful 9 inch barrel played a critical role in the defense of Texas during its time as a republic and as a state.

Finally some photos - by Felix Neuberger

Russian book-cover-text
www.jpgbox.com/page/50838

English book-cover-text
www.jpgbox.com/page/50839

Count de Bioncourt
Photo courtesy Atlant
www.jpgbox.com/page/50840

The count at an Asian hunt
Photo courtesy Atlant
www.jpgbox.com/page/50841

Purdey sideplate with small-tight-scroll/bouquet engraving
and - not seen on photo - an articulated front
trigger with an ingenious spring-within-front-trigger solution
www.jpgbox.com/page/50842

The Purdey action body with uncommon engraving pattern
www.jpgbox.com/page/50843

Those side plates seem worn from extensive use. I would be interested in reading where he traveled with that Purdey and how it was used.

The photos were taken with a SLR, the rear part of the
plate is not within the focus zone, so it may look worn,
but it is not , it is just outside the "sharp zone".
Purdey built the pair in 1889 and got it back after the original owners death in 1906 and
sold it then to Bioncourt. He passed away in 1913 in Germany.
So he used it for 7 years, had another Purdey which he
donated to a Russian ..
What happened afterwards it's guesswork. The late Swiss banker,
first marriage with Bioncourt granddaughter, has been a keen hunter. There are 2 daughters from this 1st marriage.
I contacted the 2nd wife of this banker with a long letter,
no reply.
There have been objects-of-arts auctioned in the years
20xx - in UK high value, in Switzerland low value items -
originating from the Swiss castle/estate once belonging
to this family.
I guess the pair has been split within the family/their
entourage and the nr. 2 is sitting somewhere in a Swiss cupboard.
I do not intend to do a tour-de-force to renunite the pair.
Sooner or later it will emerge and if not ...let it be.
I recommend you to get this book, it is worthwile reading
and it is the only one with a non-Russian text
on Russian hunting/collecting which I came across.
I have used this non-ejector Purdey on pigeons and pheasants,
it's comfortable, but not an "allegro-con-brio" affair.

felix: - BZ and thank-you for your time and most interesting post.
I look forward to more of your input.