Hello, I have a c.1890 Henry Atkin sidelever/sidelock and it has a curious engraving of a sheaf or wheat or grain on the stock oval. Has anyone seen this before? Is there a meaning to it?

maybe this...

Nope - can't get it to open.

As family crests go, the garbe (also garb or wheat-sheaf), banded, is a distinctive one in heraldry terms. That's the good news.

The bad news is that a lot of families are noted as using it, or using variations of it, as per Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, 4th Ed., London, 1905.:



The fact that it is within a circle (roundle?) may help narrow it down. Knowing the actual colours of the family crest would be best, but impossible in this case.

I'm afraid that doesn't narrow it down very much at all. Do you have any information on the history of the gun, past owners?

Beautiful gun, by the way!

Thank you! I was told it was originally ordered by the 15th Marquess of Winchester, Augustus Paulet in 1890... I am trying to verify through Atkin, Grant & Lang.

I have a Woodward that has a crescent moon in the oval . The gun was ordered by the Earl of a Westmoreland . Nothing in the family seal or coat of arms had a crescent moon . I found, and wish I had it now, a list of single symbols . The crecent moon turns out to represent “ the first son “‘. In my case it was ordered in 1890 . In 1890 the 12 Earl was living but died 3 years later . The 13 Earl , his first son, was in the second tier of great shooters in the “Olly “ Book on Ripon . It is assumed that the gun was ordered for his son and marked to identify the gun in the gun room , at driven shoots, and for those who cleaned the gun, one of many handled by the cleaners , as belonging to the 13th Earl by quick Identification .
It would not surprise me that your symbol was similar . If you can find that list the sheif might represent a Second or third , or so on , son or other relative in the household.,

Is this what you are referring to...?

[img]https://docs.google.com/a/creativeartsch...export=download[/img]

The only family crest description that I can find for the Marquis of Winchester is a `Falcon displayed` etc.

RDD... yes , you found it . So it does not answer your question . Thanks as well for finding it .

Not finding anything depicting a sheaf...

RDD - are you getting any response from Atkins Grant and Lang? They responded immediately when I emailed them for information on the Grant hammer 10 bore about which I posted a couple of weeks ago. That was in January, and I then phoned them to pay for a certificate of origin. Silence since then, in spite of several emails. They are probably closed and no one is attending to emails. Please let me know if you hear back from them.

The shooting ground and gunroom have been closed for a few weeks now.Dont know if there`s anyone at the Francis Lovell premises though.Unlikely at the moment ,as everywhere else!!

Thanks, Imperdix. That's life for most of us these days.

Just taking the "Wheatsheaf" Emblem from the guns oval this is the emblem of the County of Cheshire here in Britain used from the dawn of history. Also this Emblem is used on the Silver assay mark for the City of Chester the county town. From Steve Nash posting there is one name that leaps out of the page "Cholmondeley" a very old Cheshire family name there is a Castle of the same name and a family associated with it also a Lord Choolmondeley head of the family. Oh it is pronounced "chummley" another quirk of Brit English, may be Cheshire and old Cheshire families may be a good starting point for the guns History.
A more down to earth explanation of the image in the oval it could be just the guns owner could have been a resident of Cheshire or just born there or his name is Cheshire so the Wheat sheaf could mean just that, to put it simply I am a resident of Cheshire and I could put that Wheatsheaf on my gun and if the truth be known any person could use the Wheatsheaf if they wish, also there are a large number of public houses called the Wheatsheaf and there is no reason to stop the owners having the wheatsheaf crest engraved on their guns as long as it is not an attempt to de fraud. So just because it looks like an heraldic crest does not mean that it truly is.

same, nothing from them since my first email in February....