Cheltenham-made gun goes like a shot

A LOCALLY manufactured gun went like a shot when it came up for sale at a Cotswold auction house last week.

The Cheltenham-made Edwinson C Green double barrel shotgun was sold for £1,500 when it went under the hammer at Moore Allen & Innocent’s sporting sale in Cirencester on Friday, August 28 – which with a packed saleroom and a collective tally of £50,000 was one of the most successful sporting sales for several years.

The gun had been re-sleeved by Boss & Co and came with a leather motor case bearing a label reading Harrod’s Limited Gun and Rifle Department, Brompton Road, London SW.

It shared the honour of being the highest-achieving lot with Finally, an original watercolour of hounds chasing a hare by Cecil Aldin – illustrator of the original 1893 publication of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book, years before Walt Disney got his hands on the tale – which also achieved £1,500.

Elsewhere in the sporting pictures, a collection of Snaffles prints continued their run of seemingly unending popularity. The best was A Sight to Take Home and Dream About, signed by the artist in pencil, which made £580.

Animal skins continued to fetch a good price. A Canadian black bear skin achieved £760 against a £400 to £600 estimate and a zebra skin rug made £560 against an estimate of £300 to £500.

Over in the fishing section it was a book – rather than a fishing reel, as is the tradition – which had bidders hooked. A 1921 first edition of The Way of a Trout with a Fly by G E M Skeus was so good the author signed it twice – once, presumably, during a mass signing session and then again as a dedication to the book’s original owner. Carrying an estimate of £80 to £120, auctioneers and vendor were delighted when the hammer fell at £700.

Meanwhile, stuffed and mounted fish continued to prove popular with bidders. A pike in a naturalistic setting, presented in a bow-fronted case and preserved by the renowned taxidermist W F Homer of Forest Gate, London sold for £510, while a pair of perch that came with a bit of history – a plaque boasted ‘caught by R J Lawrence, River Avon, 21st April 1949, total weight 3lbs 8oz’ – made £300.

Finishing as we started, in the firearms section, an unusual air rifle, in almost unused condition,  proved far more than its original worth, when it was sold for £530. The Webley & Scott Limited Webley Service Air Rifle Mk II, came with a canvas covered case bearing the label ‘Webley & Scott Limited, Established 1790, Premier Works, Birmingham’ and its original price tag label inscribed ‘The Webley Service Air Rifle Mk II, 95 shillings.’

The next sale at Moore Allen & Innocent will be the antique and general sale on Friday, September 11 from 10am.

An Edwinson C Green double barrel shotgun	A 1921 first edition of The Way of a Trout with a Fly by G E M Skeus

Finally, an original watercolour of hounds chasing a hare by Cecil Aldin	A zebra skin