doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Birmingham proof house error of 1952

Occasionally one will find a British gun that had proof marks stamped in error on the flats of the barrels, and I have had such a gun in the past.

However, the Birmingham proof house error that I have wanted to actually see for twenty years plus yers was the error that occurred in 1952 where the Birmingham proof house stamped the “viewers mark” (actually a date code and originally referred to as private view marks) with the year date and the Birmingham “B” code in reverse. The date code should have been “C B” over 1 among a pair of crossed swords but the steel stamp was made to stamp “B C” over 1---where C is the code for year 1952. It is thought in the gun trade that the reversed stamp was used until a new one was made. See the note about the number “1” below.

That this error existed on a few guns proofed in 1952 at the Birmingham proof house has been known about for decades but until LeFusil, aka Dustin, posted the photos of his Osborne gun for sale on this site in the Guns for Sale section I had never seen one although looking for an example since I first learned about it from Jack Rowe in 1998. To my way of thinking it makes this Charles Osborne gun a bit “collectible”.

The date code (viewers mark) was introduced by Birmingham proof master Lt. Col. Charles Playfair in 1921 with the year date code beginning with the letter “A” which was stamped between the hilts at the top of a pair of crossed swords (scepters). This style of viewers mark was continued to about the time that Lt. Col. Playfair died in 1941 when the date code stamping ceased during the war years and later years until 1950 when a new date code was re-introduced by the new Birmingham proof master R.P. Lees.

Once again the year date code began with the letter “A” (for 1950) but the date code stamp style was changed to where a pair of crossed swords was stamped into the barrel flats and had the year date on the left, the Birmingham proof house code (“B”) on the right and the proof house “rank” of the viewer stamped at the bottom between the swords—most time it will be the rank “1”.

The above referenced viewers mark style was used until 1974 (letter “Z”). Beginning in 1975 a date code style eliminating the crossed swords to that of “circle” stamped into the barrel flats with the year date within the circle on the left, the Birmingham “B” on the right and the rank code at the bottom of the circle was use; and as expected the year date of 1975 was an “A” and so forth. Even this new circle style mark was not without controversy and had to be modified from the 3 segments inside the circle used as division lines between the right, left and bottom letters and number as originally designed by the proof house. These 3 division lines made it difficult to read the 3 codes letters/number and these lines were eliminated. The circle with the 3 division lines resembled a Mercedes Benz star circle.

The Birmingham proof house date codes do not seem to be stamped on all guns for some reason during the early years that it was used. Also the date codes were stamped on guns that were newly proofed and guns that had been re-proofed as in the case of the Osborne.

Thanks Dustin.

Kindest regards;
Stephen Howell

Steve,
Thanks for the info. I learn something new everyday. Interesting stuff.

Dustin

I've always learned best from pictures

Drew;

You did not cite a source for your chart above but we British gun and rifle history buffs know it instantly as page 435 (Date Marks) of Nigel Brown's BRITISH GUNMAKERS. Vol 2. Brown's chart itself presents a conundrum. Did the Birmingham proof house make the same mistake that they made in 1952 again in 1977 and produce a incorrectly made date code stamp? Brown's chart above leads one to believe that the Birmingham proof house did that but I have not encountered anyone or any source confirming that mistake/error.

I suspect that it is a book printers error. If anyone knows why Brown illustrated this let me know.

Kindest Regards;
Stephen Howell

Having had dealings with the Birmingham Proof House over many years I can assure you all that the old two rule system applies .
Rule 1 the Proof House is always right .
Rule 2 If shown they could be in error , see rule one .
Joke it may be but errors have/do and will occur in both London and Birmingham , incorrectly marked nominal bore sizes or chamber lengths for example .Date stamps being made with reversed letters are far less important than these .Interesting as it may be to collectors and enthusiast .

True, I had a Thomas Wild hammer gun where the nominal bore mark was missing so no way of telling if it was either in or out of proof. I sent it for re-proof. Also one re-proofed gun with Damascus barrels that came back with the mark 'sleeved' on one barrel; which it was clearly not. Just someone picking up the wrong punch. Also saw a gun marked as having 2 1/2" chambers but the 3 1/4 ton mark which was for 2 3/4" chamber guns. Yes, they do slip up from time to time. They have a high volume of guns go through and I suppose someone could easily pick up the wrong punch from time to time.

I believe the term for the crossed items being illustrated is "Halberds", which was a fairly brutal medieval weapon.




Lovely gun BTW, and with crisp and clear photography of all it's details. Would that every gun for sale (here & elsewhere) were so nicely detailed...