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1882-1886: 29 Rue du Faubourg, St. Honore revisited

In the above new history I have this sentence on the alleged Reilly shop at 29 rue du Faubourg, St. Honore, Paris: "Note: Allegedly at some point in the 1880’s Reilly opened a branch establishment at 29 Rue du Faubourg, St Honore. This has not been confirmed; no guns with this address on the rib have been found; the only advertisement with this address appeared in Jan 1886 touting a win by an Italian at a Monte Carlo pigeon shoot)."

I've added SN 22432 to the list, a SxS .577 (2 3/4" chambers) BPE rifle with rotary underlever. It has "E.M. REILLY & CO., 502 NEW OXFORD ST., LONDON" on the rib. It would have been serial numbered in circa late 1879 - early 1880.
http://auctions.holtsauctioneers.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=A1214++++914+&refno=+++76477



Here is a blow-up of the label:





The label has the 1867 Paris medals. It has the address "16, New Oxford Street" and two branch addresses, "277 Oxford Street" and "29 rue du Faubourg, St. Honore, Paris." If the label were original with the case, this could be evidence that Reilly had a shop at this address. But the gun was made in very late 1879, the addresses on Oxford Street didn't change from 502 and 315 to 16 and 277 until November 1881. So either the label is not original with the gun, the gun was made then wasn't sold for a couple of years, or it was serial numbered when ordered but not delivered until after renumbering (normal practice). It does not have scolloped corners and may indeed be a later reproduction or addition.

As mentioned previously on p.18, rue du Faubourg, St. Honore was a prestigious location in the 1870's-80's with a prominent Brit ex-pat community. Reilly would not have kept it secret if he had a store there. Yet it is nowhere mentioned in advertisements. There may be a gun with that address on the rib if Seņor Guidicini's win at Monte Carlo advertisement in the late January 1886 London papers is authentic. Whatever, the 2 rue Scribe address never closed, even if a satellite location was opened for a time in Paris.

There is what looks to be from a very fuzzy photo, a very similar label on one of Cal Pappas' Reilly BPE's (Cal has owned 3 Reilly BPE's that I've seen on the web, but he doesn't post serial numbers or names/addresses on ribs in his ads or writing). It has the 1867 medals, is very squarish, has no scolloped corners, and what may be similar "branch establishments" which may include rue du Faubourg (can't make it out but the blurs seem similar with what looks to be Paris below the right branch address); Two BPE's with St. Honore, Paris? Wonder if that's where he sold his rifles (except for sure Seņor Guidicini wasn't shooting pigeons with a 450 BPE)? If anyone knows Cal, I'd much appreciate seeing a good photo of this label and also getting the SN's. Thanks.



Actually the label is posted here: http://www.calpappas.com/2014/12/double-rifle-1.html (almost at the bottom) and the picture was sent to Cal by Elliot Lee.

Addendum: I sent an email to Cal Pappas asking if he retained his records on Reilly double guns and whether he had additional info on Mr. Elliot Lee and his gun from above. He got back to me immediately. Unfortunately he had neither but his helpfulness was much appreciated.


Edit: I've added this paragraph to the Short history: "Note: In the early 1880's Reilly apparently opened a small satellite branch of 2 rue Scribe, Paris at 29 rue du Faubourg, St. Honore, Paris for a short time. A couple of gun case labels show the store would have been in existence after the November 1881 change in Oxford Street addresses but before the July 1885 closure of 2 rue Scribe. An advertisement with this address appeared in Jan 1886 touting a win by an Italian at a Monte Carlo pigeon shoot; whether the address was on the rib of his gun or on the trade/case label is unknown. No newspaper ads for this branch exist (and it was a prestigious location which should have been publicized). No extant guns have thus far been found with this address. The branch was apparently opened at a time when Reilly was building more than 1,000 serial numbered bespoke guns a year. "

Last edited by Argo44; 11/28/18 02:48 PM.
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