doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com William Powell SLE value

Hugh, that's a lot of good information from a first hand perspective. Should be about as much help as the questioner can get without showing photos of his gun. A friend has , or had , a pair of Powells sle's for sale. Nice guns with Damascus barrels. I think the pair price was around 12K.

[quote=Hugh Lomas] Occasionally you find examples that are a little quirky in as much as you will see gorgeous exhibition wood and only line border engraving, internally they are gems.

Hugh,

That sounds like the one you let me get away with at the U.P. shoot a couple years ago. It's gorgeous and has never missed a bird (yet). It lives in my room where I can pick it up every day. The lesser guns reside in safes but this one is too pretty to hide.

Thanks to all for your replys and help. All that remains is for my friend to make his final decision as to if and when he wants to part with some of his "old friends". That has to be a tough move. If I'm successful I'll be posting pictures here down the road. Thanks again, Don Hansen.

British and Continental gun values can be estimated by estimating Brand Value level (BV), Original Quality grade (OQ), and Current Condition level. Powell is Brand Value level two (BV2), which will give a value 3/4 of a similar gun with a BV1 (Boss, H&H, Purdey, and Woodward) name. The OQ sounds like somewhere in the OQ1.5 (not quite a best work gun) to OQ2.5 (about mid-point in quality for sle guns). Dig is right in that OQ will have the most impact on this estimate as it is hard to estimate from the description. The CC sounds much like CC3 (Significent use) to CC4 (Heavy use, but no abuse
).

BV2-OQ1.5-CC3 = $13400, BV2-OQ2-CC3 = $11000, BV2-OQ2.5-CC3 = $9700, BV2-OQ1.5-CC4 = $10400, BV2-OQ2-CC4 = $8300, and BV2-OQ2.5-CC4 = $7300. If the gun turned out to be a restored "B" grade (BV2-OQ3-CC5) the value should be about $4700.

The foregoing is based on analysis of a bunch of auction results. Hope this helps some.

Rocketman,

Is there a British Gun price guide that walks through the BV1, BV2, BV3 names, etc?

I'd never seen a price guide for European shotguns before.

Whle we're on the subject of Wm. Powell, can someone tell me who has access to the factory records these days? Is it still possible to get a search/letter done, on a particular ser.#?
I have sent several emails to both the new and old firm and never received the courtesy of a reply. Thanks

Tool Man,
Persevere, try the original Wm. Powell firstly for a definitive reply then go to the new owner if necessary. Don't give up, it is considered rude not to reply.

Tool Man, It is best to telephone William Powell in Birmingham rather than email, they must suffer a huge number of emails and simply don't have the man power to respond, a ringing phone is more difficult to ignore. I contacted them for a record of the gun mentioned below and they were helpful and prompt.
As regards the original question, I have a Powell SLE on my web site www.heritageguns.co.uk which may help to put your gun's value in perspective. Note mine is the rare Lift Up toplever version although sleeved and fully overhauled which will effect the price.

Salopian/Toby,

I will try that route. Thanks for the replies.----TOOL

Don,
Never, ever, make an offer on anything for sale, no matter who or what, without the selling party first giving you a price. Ask him to price the gun, then go from there. You can bet the gentleman knows a little about what the gun is worth if he had the good taste to buy it to begin with.
JR