I went 1-4 today, but really put in some trolling type low bids on a few items. Wound up with one gun case for £220. I really wanted the Woodward 16 ga hammer gun but just lost out. Did someone here win it???

I was bidding on four guns today. Backed up my bids with online bids when they got surpassed. Ended up going zero for four. One I would have won I expect but my internet connection chose that minute to get a hiccup and last bid did not go through. That was for an interesting light weight 12 which did not go for that much. Sales were strong for the most part with guns going for high estimate and above almost every time for guns I watched sell. I have gotten to the point that I bid and once it goes past my personal high limit for bidding I wish the winner good luck and move on.

I seem to have more luck in the sealed bid auction which is coming up. I have bids entered for about two dozen items and guns. If I win more than a few I will be surprised. But looking is most of the fun. Guess I was the kid who wore out the pages of the Sears Christmas book when it came. Holt's is my new Christmas book online.

Last year when Jonny on TGS was discussing with the Holt's rep (Simon?) the "low and high" estimates, the rep disclosed that they two are purposely set low so as not to chill interest before anyone starts the actual bidding process believing that if they were set high, many would think "why bother?" and never consider bidding. Gil

I went 0 for 2, I figured that would be the result though. It is hard to find a deal at Holt's, I do occasionally but it is rare. Most of my good buys come from dealers. I picked up a .275 Rigby recently from a UK dealer for a small fraction of the rifles value here. Deals are where you find them.

I was wondering about bidding on one or other of two boxlock ejectors, lots 1765 and 1766. I had a chat on the 'phone with a helpful guy at Holts, and then decided to leave it alone this time. At the minimum estimate price either would have been £1,000+ or $1,300 which seemed too much of a gamble for me, sight unseen. Apparently the Jeffery was cast for a right-hander but had had the triggers 'swept' or twisted to suit a leftie. And the other was much worse... In the end they sold for 50% more, so I hope the new owners are happy.

So I have a bid in for an item in the Sealed Bid April sale - we will see!

Caveat emptor!

HB

And what do you think about this? This lovely pair goes to USA?

28 ga pair to USA?

28GA FOREVER!

"Uber cool" doesn't even begin to do them justice. What an amazing pair.

Crazy high prices. I only got two out of about 20+ I bid on. Tied on one bid that went to a guy attending the sale.

I`ve usually placed bids of top estimate+50% and never had a sniff of winning at Holts so I don`t even bother now .As other`s have already said,there are better deals buying from dealers who will have more interest in you being a satisfied customer....

Curious why the US auctions, Rock Island, Poulin, Amoskeag, Cowan’s etc. are never mentioned on this site.

Shhh.

On the question of English vs. US auctions, my general sense is that auction (and dealer retail) prices are better in England, even considering import costs and currency fluctuations. This is especially true for rare or high-condition English guns. That is a gross generalization that does not hold in all circumstances, of course. However, consider that the US auction house is primarily selling US made guns and if they offer English guns at all it is 5% of what they sell on a given auction day. Holts or Lonsdale's, for example sell 90% English guns and so the quantities and available and range of condition/configuration options are far superior.

And US houses can sell UK guns that don't meet British proof standards..Gil

Very true

And Gil's point is?

More safeguards in buying from a UK auction which must by British law adhere to rules of proof standards rather than US auctions which can legally sell an out of proof British gun. Gil

The Brits sell thousands of "in proof" guns that have thin barrel walls that I would find unacceptable. The Brits find grinding barrels from the inside and the outside acceptable behavior. That said, I very much enjoy reading the Holt's auction lists.

I did attend the sale rather than my usual online as I was more than interested in a few of the Scottish guns but when Simon R had most of those I was keen on laid out in the TGS video a few days before I just knew that silly prices were going to be the order of the day. The Harkom boxlock in my opinion went for crazy money especially as on physical inspection, and to my eye at least, the 12b is far less pretty than the 16 or 20 - the same distinctive carved fences but too 'bulky' for me.

The Dicksons attracted attention as always but I was amazed when the "Dickson and Son' 16b boxlock non-ejector hammered at 1300 GBP (plus fees) against an estimate of 3-500 especially as it was not a Dickson made gun and according to some, guns marked as such weren't even retailed by John Dickson & Son.

The W J Jeffery boxlock ejector was nice, the first time I'd really looked at one. It had long-ish barrels, a file cut rib and 2 3/4" chambers. For me at least it felt a good weight, with good LoP and even with the 'lefty' swept triggers I could see it would make a nice all round gun for clays and game use.

Now to the sealed bids....:)

Dan R,

How did the sidelever Dickson RA look? The barrels seemed rough from the description.

Ken

Ken,

I didn't spend a lot of time looking it over as I felt it was bound to be beyond my budget. It had definitely seen a fair bit of use but seemed to be in pretty original condition with no obvious signs of having been mucked about with. The barrels were much as described in the catalogue but in the hands of one of the Dickson experts in my part of the world I think that any issues it has could be put right without too much trouble. As to the need ultimately for re-barrelling I defer to their expert eyes on that. It will be interesting to see where/if it appears at some point in the future.

The Dickson sidelock was of more interest to me. It was loose on the action, the safety was sticking and of course the right hand barrel was very marginal (almost out of proof). I thought at the estimate of 1-1.5k it was worth investing the significant sum needed to put it right but not for me at GBP 2800 (GBP 3640 with fees). I'd rather put more money into finding a much better barrelled example.

D.

How does 1-1.5 put a loose gun "right" if the barrel or barrels are almost out of proof? New barrels? Sleeving?

If you sleeve a gun you make it into a shooter, not a collector, but if the barrels are marginal it is not really a collector anyways. New barrels would be great, but at the cost of many tens of thousands not going to happen in all but the extreme cases. Guns at auction are there for a reason. Not enough value to sell on consignment in most cases but still worth something. I am stuck trying to figure out what I might do with a gun coming up on the sealed bid. It needs sleeving but by then I would be upside down in the gun, with no chance to ever get my money back. But the gun is so rare I might never find another one. They made maybe 300 total, over 120 years ago. But rare does not mean super valuable in this case. So do I just do smart thing and add this gun to the "ones which got away list" or just buy it and make one more money pit?

Some of us don't buy guns with the intension of coming out right side up down the road. Not saying you should, but you might put the idea in front a few such people and see if they would be interested in the investment. You never know. Someone might pay much more for something really rare. See if you can line up a client in advance. Just an idea.

A gun that is in proof but marginal, in other words at the upper end of the proof bore size, can have a long and useful life ahead of it assuming it has reasonable wall thicknesses IF the barrels are taken care of.

With modern ammunition and a minimum of cleaning it should be safe from pitting and never need honing out.

There may be a problem if is badly dented and the raised dent needs an internal polish.