The first Westley Richards top lever, breech opening gun, sold in 1862.
This gun, our first 'top lever' gun has been shown in our previous catalogue, our book and in some posts here on the blog. What I have never shown is the whole gun, only a close up of the top lever and butt plate. So here for the first time is a shot of the whole gun. You can pull this photo off the blog and turn it the right way around on your desktop!
steven nash on May 22, 2015 at 8:02 am
One pound in the 1860’s according to ‘equivalent value’ tables puts the gun at around £1900 ! in todays money.Extrapolating from this :-
1. How cheap labour was then ! (I assume the majority of a new gun’s cost today is now labour)
2. What a wonderful collection of new WR’s would grace my cabinet at these prices
Simon Clode on May 22, 2015 at 5:19 am
I don’t actually know how we got this back, it has been in the Westley collection of guns for many years. When Holland & Holland returned our London agency after they sold to Chanel we received back many of our records, guns and general ephemera that was left in London. This gun was amongst those returned.
Fowad on May 21, 2015 at 11:03 pm
A beauty indeed and more out of curiosity, how you got this back from the first owner. There must be a story behind it.
Simon Clode on May 22, 2015 at 7:25 pm
Malcolm Lyell was the CEO of Holland’s shortly before they sold to Chanel, Malcolm had managed our shop in Conduit Street and then purchased our shop and later Hollands when they were in trouble, he was mostly responsible for repatriating the bits and pieces. It was very decent of them to give ‘our stuff’ back! It was actually loaned but that would have been impossible to prove!
Neill Clark on May 22, 2015 at 5:59 pm
Oooooh…….Damascus barrels, how I love Damascus steel. What a gem Simon, thank you for sharing the pictures. Decent of Hollands to let you have it when they sold out, I really admire WR, English gun making owned in England, that’s how it should be.