I have a fellow bringing me a J.Purdey shotgun for possible restoration work or purchase, he has sent me some pics in advance for my perusal. The gun is a double barrel percussion gun made by J. Purdey who worked at the barrel address location from 1827-1857. At least that's what I think from the barrel address. My query is this, there does not appear to be a serial number anywhere on the gun (from what he tells me), as well, I have never seen engraving on an English gun in this style, to me it appears more Germanic in style, but I have not seen all the English guns out there. Any help identifying or clearing up my concerns would be much appreciated. Thx in advance.
moved from another forum,
Sorry.
https://ibb.co/p4MDsVMhttps://ibb.co/Lznm42Jhttps://ibb.co/txs0rGZhttps://ibb.co/wYQfdyN
I believe you have a set of genuine James Purdey barrels fit to another gun. You might want to remove the locks when you get it. Shoot me the serial number and I can see what "The Early Purdey's" book has to say on the matter.
OK thx SKB
that was kind of where my head was going with the whole thing.
thx Sean
Are the barrel proof marks 'correct' ?.. The crown does not look correct to me. Also I notice the rib engraving seems very fresh for the age of the barrels.
Looks like it says Purdey right on the side of the lock....
Steve'O did you by chance eat any brownies on your lunch breAk and fOgg yer vision ?
it does say purdey on the lock but it does not look the same age as the rest of the engraving........?
Looks like a Purdey to me.
But what I could eYe know I skipped the brownies for lunch.
So what value are they putting on this gun ?
The engraving alone is far from purdey high quality. The border chevrons are nearly all of different sizes, the dolphin type of hammers the left one the eyes are not in line. No gentleman with money to purchase a purdey gun I feel would have a fox engraved on his gun, foxes are hunted with dogs and horses. Finally if the engraver handed that lock plate with his work on it, to James Purdey I am sure he would throw it across the room then sack him, the address numbers 314 the half is far to large and therefore out of proportion no engraver worth his salt would make that type of mistake. While on the subject of the top rib engraving it looks far to large Purdey address engraving on the top rib is usually quite small.
Looks like a Purdey to me.
But what I could eYe know I skipped the brownies for lunch.
Better get you some eYe glasses old man....you can not see sh1te!!
While you may have skipped the brownies it looks like you found the brown acid.
My eyes are fine and I also can't say what Purdey did or didn't do 170 years ago....and neither can you two.
I had a look at my Purdey percussion gun. As with the gun in first post, the "1/2" of my rib address extends both above and below the borders of the rest of it.
The barrels do look correct.
How the hell would you know ?
]How the hell would you know ?
Why so crAnky frAnk? You seem upset you are unable to see what the rest of us are able see.
Maybe get out a little and you might broaden your knowledge base, if you get yourself some new eYe glasses that is.
jOe is comparing it to his own Purdey.
Much like he compared the double trigger Model 21 to his own Model 21 in another thread.
Drew isn't allowed to comment on anything he does not personally own, but the standard is different for jOe.
Much like he compared the double trigger Model 21 to his own Model 21 in another thread.
jOnes I've never claimed to have owned a model 21....and rarely do I comment on a cult gun like the 21.
I have owned two Purdey's a 9 bore muzzle loader and a 10 bore hammer gun....I'm not comparing anything about this gun to the two I've owned.
Not much doubt in my mind that back then Purdey would do any style engraving someone asked for.
Before I jumped to all these conclusions I'd want to see how the barrel fit was when hooked into the breech.
In general ...........are the experts (and by experts I mean you wonderful people on this forum) thinking this is legit or original barrels mounted to another gun and more engraving on the lock to blend it together....?
Very well jOe.
I'm just a non-malevolent leg puller.
It's an interesting gun, perhaps the assembled multitude can get to the bottom of it.
Oh, and I'm sampling the Jack Daniels Tennessee Rye. I had a coupon. It's not all bad...
Bunch of self proclaimed X'spurts...
]Bunch of self proclaimed X'spurts...
The very nature of this medium.
In general ...........are the experts (and by experts I mean you wonderful people on this forum) thinking this is legit or original barrels mounted to another gun and more engraving on the lock to blend it together....?
Why no picture of the assembled gun ?
I have a fellow bringing me a J.Purdey shotgun for possible restoration work or purchase,
Why the avoidance of the asking price ?
For you j0e....do get those eYes checked.
https://www.ecotn.com/
Don't you have any gunsmurf'n to do ?
Smurfette,
6:40 AM here, I have been up and at for a while. But to be honest I have hunting season on my mind. Deer starts Saturday and I have been out getting the dogs into some birds. Take care FrAnk and do get those eYes checked.
My eYes are just fine bubba....might get your priorities straight.
]My eYes are just fine bubba....might get your priorities straight.
Oh? Please do tell. I put in an average of 50+ hours a week when it is not hunting season. I'm sure you will be full of useful advice.....or full of something brown and foul smelling.
You spend every waking hour here spouting your gay filth....not much time left to work on people's guns.
Go figure sweety.
He's acting like he's working....haaaa haaaa
hey all .......to be clear I have no other pics of the gun, these were all that were sent.
and no prices have been discussed. The fellow is coming into town in a week or so and I hope to have a better look at the piece together.
cheers Sean
IMO only, the gun is Belgium and the barrels are spurious. According to Greener and Walsh this was quite a problem for the English as lots of guns were totally faked and dumped in England and elsewhere to unsuspecting buyers who were impressed with the name and ignored the rest of the gun. The engraving is second class. Also, as mentioned in a very early post, the crowns with the proof marks just look suspicious. Have never seen them that sharp, nor have I seen the little lines radiating out from the edges of the crowns. But I am very open to other opinions.
I once had a dealer try to sell me a Holland Holland Boxlock.I first told him simply that's not the real thing. He assured me it was, said you know they made some lower priced boxlocks as well as their higher priced Sidelocks. I then just said this isn't one of them, it doesn't have the and in their name. I then removed the forend & took off the barrels & turned the bottom facing him said, they didn't send their guns to Belgium for proofing either. It was the best guns shop in my area so I continued going there, he never again though treated me as if I didn't know much about Doubles.
Sure running out on a limb over a few photos...
One thing I do gather from the photos iz....one or more gunSmurfs has already had he/shes hands in it.