Product Details
J. PURDEY & SONS
AN EARLY 14-BORE ADAMS 1879 PATENT UNDERLEVER-COCKING BAR-IN-WOOD SIDELOCK EJECTOR, serial no. 10588,
for 1879, 29in. Whitworth-steel nitro reproved barrels, the rib engraved 'J. PURDEY & SONS, AUDLEY HOUSE, SOUTH AUDLEY STREET, LONDON. MADE OF SIR JOSEPH WHITWORTH'S FLUID PRESSED STEEL' and with acanthus scroll detailing at the breech end, 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. true cyl. and 1/4 choke, action incorporating Daw underlever lever-cocking William Adams patent design, patent no. 1128 of 20th March 1879, the fences finely carved in high relief with leaf designs, broad top strap engraved 'PATENT', automatic safety with gold-inlaid 'SAFE' detail, large protruding tumbler pivots with cocking-indicators, conversion to ejector, best fine acanthus scroll engraving with floral bouquets, 14 1/4in. figured stock, some minor cracks and repairs to wood at knuckle and fore-end wood with damage from ejector mechanism, weight 5lb. 15oz.
Provenance: The makers have kindly supplied us with the following information:
No. 10588
Completed: 1st December 1879
For: H.C. Hartley (Ashfield House, Nr Otley, Yorkshire)
Description: A bar-in-wood hammerless non-ejector game gun
Weight: 6lb. 1oz.
Calibre: 14-bore
Barrels: 29in.
Choke:
Stock: 14 3/8 1/16in.
Notes:
Daw-type snap-action underlever
Noted as having 'Extra Safetys'
Finished by Adams, and apparently at least partially actioned by Southgate
10th June 1881: Stock bend adjusted, making length 14 1/2 1/16in.
May 1890: Ordinary ribs fitted in place of original 'Bottom' rib
20th October 1924: This gun was now property of F. Dale of Cambridge. It had been altered to ejector elsewhere, but not nitro proved.
The gun cost £70, which was £10 more than a Beesley gun would have been a year later. He also paid an extra £2 15s for Whitworth Steel barrels.
Adams patent 1128 was assigned to Purdey in September 1879, but there were worries that it had already been anticipated by another patent from four years earlier. Although the fears were found to be baseless, very few guns were built on the design, and the company balance sheets for 1880 show that the cost of Adams' patent had been written off, suggesting that it had been abandoned in favour of Beesley's design. Only 14 are described specifically as 'Clutch' guns, but there may well have been others completed that weren't properly entered.
Literature: In his definitive book 'JAMES PURDEY & SONS GUN AND RIFLE MAKERS. TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF EXCELLENCE', Donald Dallas notes that prior to the 1880 patent Beesley action, Purdey's did use various designs of hammerless action, including Gibbs & Pitt and William Adams. William Adams was a Purdey gunmaker in the 1870's and Purdey's actually applied and paid for the registering of his 1879 patent and they also paid him a sum of £5 - thus giving them unrestricted rights to use the design in their line up. Adams would go on to work with Stephen Grant and Boss & Co. (and would help co-design the first pattern of Boss single trigger with John Robertson).
Donald also notes that just 31 hammerless guns appear in the Purdey records prior to 1880
Other Notes: Please see Lot 900 for a Purdey brass-cornered oak and leather double guncase with charges label hand-written for 10588 and 15040 and Lot 705 for gun serial no. 15040
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Estimate £2,000-3,000
Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the 1968 Firearms Act, to be held as a curiosity or ornament