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Here is another skilled but largely unknown provincial maker.

Bedford has been a market town since the Middle Ages, located 74 km north of London, 105 km south of Birmingham, and 40 km west of Cambridge. The 19th Century saw Bedford transform into an important engineering hub and in 1832 gas lighting was introduced, the railway arrived in 1846, the first drains and sewers were dug in 1864, and piped water was provided in 1866, near around the time the gun below was made. In the 1860s Bedford had only one gunmaker, Henry Adkin at 11 High Street. He had two daughters and three sons, two of which eventually followed him into the business. In 1861 Henry Adkin employed one man and two apprentices, so he was a fairly typical provincial gunmaker.

While his was a small operation, Henry could put up fine work. This gun, a double-bite screw grip under-lever 12-bore, has no serial number (Adkin probably made less than 10 a year), the 29 3/4" damascus barrels have London proofs and have made it to this day with only slight pitting, and the gun weighs 7 lb 2 oz.. However, it is thoroughly well-made, and with a number of artistic flourishes: the dolphin-headed hammers with flanged noses, a fitted under-lever, the sculpted horn tip to the fore-end, unusually fine chequering, and well-executed acanthus-leaf engraving (it would be decades before the full-coverage tiny rose-and-scroll motifs would appear on guns).

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

In 1872 Adkin moved to 54 High Street, having the old building torn down and the new building purpose-made as a gun shop and workshop -- one of only three purpose-built gun shops in Britain. The design was in the Venetian Gothic style, topped with two guns dogs holding pheasants, and Adkin's initials "HA" carved in stone on the front of the building. Adkin's original shop now houses a MacDonald's, and the 1872 purpose-built building still stands, now a Subway's. Henry Adkin died in 1914, aged 93, and the business he started in 1844 closed for good in 1996 -- a pretty good run.

(image capture: May 2019 - 2020 Google)
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

(image capture: May 2019 - 2020 Google)
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Last edited by Steve Nash; 02/04/21 05:53 PM.
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Interesting , or rather unusual, trigger guard design with the guard screwed into the decorated bottom tang.

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Steve,

Who would or may have or own records for Adkins guns. I have an SLE, beautiful gun, and would like to assemble whatever information I can. I did track down a trade label with the Bedford address, but given they closed in 1996, someone must have some records.

Beautiful guns.

John

Last edited by susjwp; 08/27/20 08:49 AM.
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Daryl, the two-piece trigger guard iron is one of those little details where once you notice it, you realize it appears on other guns. I can't list all the times where I've noticed a design or construction feature, thinking it was a new one to me, only to go back to the collection and find it was not so new... And I too thought the two-piece guard was unusual, and I was surprised to see it was in wider use than I had thought. I have no idea of the benefit, if any, of having a two-piece trigger guard instead of the single piece iron. But it was not an uncommon practice in pinfire game guns. In this thread I've illustrated 10 other game guns having this particular quirk, by Barnett, Birkett & Allen, John Blissett, JD Dougall, WW Greener, Harris Holland, William Moore, Theophilus Murcott, CF Niebour, and TJ Watkins. Yep, it's worth going back in the thread and having another look.

Sort of like the the back-lock plate attachment, unless you look at a number of guns you never notice there are several different ways of fixing the plate. In the case of pinfires, how often does one have the luxury of examining several dozen at once? Another reason to continue following this thread!

Perhaps this 'feature' was short-lived, I don't have other doubles to compare to. Does anyone have a later centre-fire hammer gun or hammerless double with a two-piece trigger guard iron?

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John, I'm afraid I do not have any information on surviving Adkin records. Here's hoping a reader of this thread will be able to help.

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Steve,
I think the two piece trigger guard is stylistic more than anything. Check out the vintage Rigby rising bite guns, they have two piece guards. I have seen others as well.

https://www.morphyauctions.com/jamesdjulia/item/52239-1-397/

Steve


http://www.bertramandco.com/
Booking African hunts, firearms import services

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The two piece trigger guard is a standard item on most Powell lifters.

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I too was intrigued when you posted the first pic of a two piece guard ,thinking it was a foreign influence but obviously it is not a rarity at all in the p/f era.Did it occur on muzzle loaders previously?

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This Pinfire carries the name Samuel Ebrall Shrewsbury the County Town of Shropshire he was a top provincial maker, strangely it caries London Proof Marks though I am sure it is a Birmingham made gun. The bores are in good condition but it has the ugliest set of hammers that I have ever seen on a Pinfire. It also has the remains of "Russet Browning" a much favored finish for barrels on guns used for Wild Fowling here in Brit land.



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Mr. Nash, that's a good explanation and comment. It caused me to go back and look at some of my British pinfire doubles. I think I looked at about six. All , including a Dougall Lockfast design, had the triggerguard and decorated tang in one piece. One, a Harkom, had a separate triggerguard and it appears to be attached at the rear with some sort of "blind screw". You are correct , it is really nice to see these guns sort of side by side so that the differences pop out.

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