May 8-10, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/9/2024
Octagonal skelp Damascus with a gargantuan rifled .75 caliber bore, fit with a dovetailed bead front sight, and 4-leaf express rear sight, with silver express lines, unmarked for regulation. Engraved over breech at top flat "Westley Richards 170 New Bond Steet London". Case colored breech with banded silver lines and engraved with a portrait of what appears to be a goat. Underside with truing strike, Birmingham proofs, serial number, and "W.R" "GT" and "AH" on loop. Ramrod with removable head retained by dual ferrules feeding into a reinforced mouth, with sling eye on fore ferrule. Stock with full length forearm and barrel key feeding through a reinforced escutcheon is fit with a Westley Richards percussion lock, case colored, engraved with a sleeping tiger and acanthus scroll, fit with an English stalking safety and fishform hammer engraved en suite. Trigger guard with knurled "pistol grip", and engraved on bottom of guard with a running stag; with a pineapple finial, and engraved with serial number behind pistol grip. Double beaded cheekpiece, sling eye on toe line, and fit with a silver oval, engraved in what appears to be Devanagari script. High polish English blue buttplate with a capbox, lid engraved with a lioness facing off against a snake on the plains. Housed in an oak case case with split ring handle, with Westley Richards trade label in lid, compartmentalized for the gun when broken down, pair turnscrews, nipple wrench, patch cutter, powder flask, mainspring housing, bullet starter, oil bottle, striker pot with two spare nipples, additional jags for rod, and bullet mold. Interestingly, there is also an envelope with three lead cast balls that appear to have been shot through the gun, and a folded note attributing the gun to the King of Jaipur. Case lid has extensive carving on the front in what also appears to be Devanagari, untranslated, portions of which also appear on multiple accessories. CONDITION: Excellent, retaining the vast majority of the original browning on the barrel, some scattered handling marks throughout, and some thinning to silver at high edges and muzzle. Some spotting across top flat. Furniture excellent with case colors fading and thinning to silver at sharp edges. High polish bluing excellent on trigger guard, silvering at sharp edges, while patchbox lid is good, with some heavier rubs, probably from spending time face down in case. Accessories are excellent with some minor handling marks and silvering to sharp edges, brass with a deep aquamarine verdigris. Case with some handling appropriate to age throughout, but strong, lining with some rubs. Mechanically fine, bore is excellent with strong, well-defined rifling.
Manufacturer
Westley Richards