doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com E.M. Reilly; History; Chronology; Serial Numbers

This is not meant to bring the Reilly line back; The book is still being edited.

However, For the first time in three years a Reilly gun has come to light which required extensive changes in the dating chart on p.57.
https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...raved-e-m-reilly-co-12-bore-double-rifle



This is SN 32760 , a 12 bore SxS rifle, top lever, BLE with 28" barrels. It is adorned with a plaque saying it was presented as a birthday present on 26 March 1891. This means it was likely ordered and numbered a couple of months earlier.



The chart on p.57 had this serial number as being made in 1893. The chart has been updated which required moving a lot of serial numbers backwards in time a couple of years.

This changed a few things, altering the dated serial numbers based on known data points from the July 1885 closure of rue Scribe (last SN 27340) to this March 1991 (32760), up to the May 1897 closure of 16 Oxford street (last SN 34723).
1) Reilly's average production of 1040/50 serial numbered guns a year in the 1880's did not decline until after E.M.'s death in 1890. After his death there was a much steeper descent.
2) It moved several guns serial numbered in the 30300 series which still have the 1887 proof stamp "Not for Ball" (including Terry Lubzinski's Reilly from this board) back to the year 1888, a more understandable date.

These are all educated guesses based on certain "marker" numbers. There are 24 specific datable data points for Reilly serial numbers identified from 1828 to 1912. This becomes one of them. See p.57 footnotes to explain the process.

As more guns come to light, the chart will continue to be refined. (There are currently 575 Reilly guns with serial numbers whose parameters are known in the database, 1.6% of his total output over 90 years. In addition there are about 40 early Reilly's in my database whose serial numbers were not published in the advertisements. Hopefully they'll reappear).

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Another Reilly has come to light which requires revision of the dating chart. This is SN 17574, with an 1871 dedication plaque on it. My chart puts that SN in the middle of 1872; the chart must be modified:

-- The dating chart needs to gain about numbered 300-400 guns from mid-Feb 1868 opening of Rue Scribe, Paris (1st SN 14983) up to fall 1871 (17574)

-- and lose 300-400 numbered guns from fall 1871 to the next chronological marker in Nov 1881 (1st SN 23536).

-- A couple of "sanity check" guns on the chart will have to be accommodated: For instance 20459 - the first confirmed by photos extant Reilly with "Not for Ball" - is currently dated Jul, 1876. It looks to be staying pretty much in the same date-place and will anchor the analyses.

https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...ble-rifle-of-lawrence-r-jerome-from-1871
Lot 3065: E.M. Reilly & Co. Double Rifle of Lawrence R. Jerome from 1871
Historic Engraved E.M. Reilly & Co. Jones Rotary Underlever Hammer Double Rifle in .500/.450 No. 1 Express Inscribed to Lawrence R. Jerome from his brother Leonard W. Jerome, Grandfather of Winston Churchill, in 1871, the Same Year the Brothers Participated in the Famous "Millionaires Hunt" in the American West with General Sheridan and Buffalo Bill Cody
Auction Date: May 21, 2023






Winston Churchill's mother Jeanette was of course an American nee "Jerome." Her father Leonard Jerome presented this gun to his brother Lawrence in New York City in 1871. Leonard Jerome was fantastically wealthy. . see profile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Jerome

The write-up is very long and mentions that Leonard Jerome had been in Europe as an observer of the Franco-Prussian war. It is quite likely that he bought the rifle later that year from Reilly. It could have been ordered in Paris or London. The gun could not have been a birthday gift to Lawrence. . .he was born Jan 20, 1820. It could have been presented after their return from the Cody guided hunt that summer . .sort of a one-upmanship - "You failed to drop that Bison and lost your horse in the process - so try this one."