Product Details
PURDEY
A 12-BORE 1863 PATENT (FIRST PATTERN) SNAP-ACTION THUMBHOLE-UNDERLEVER HAMMERGUN, serial no. 7284,
28in. sleeved steel to damascus nitro barrels (partially struck off at the breech ends), 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 and 1/2 choke, carved serpentine fences of pinfire form, non-rebounding back-action locks with unusual dolphin hammers of diminutive pinfire form, reinforced hammer breasts hitting the strikers in the centre of the standing breech, striker retracting bars engraved 'L' and 'R', Purdey first pattern thumbhole underlever, border and scroll engraving (worn), brushed and reblued finish overall, 14 3/4in. figured stock including 5/8in. wooden extension, fore-end with repairs, weight 6lb. 5oz., in a damaged leather case
Provenance: The makers have kindly informed us that this shotgun was completed in 1866 with 29in. barrels for Lord Grosvenor.
Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, K.G., P.C., J.P. was born 13th October 1825 into one of the wealthiest families in Great Britain, and by the time of his death was considered to be the richest man in the country.
He was the second son of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster and Lady Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, the daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Stafford (see Lot 1450). His older brother pre-deceased him and so Hugh Grosvenor acceded to the family titles. He also inherited the fine sporting estate of Eaton Hall in Cheshire and large amounts of land in London's Mayfair and Belgravia. The ground rents of the latter were substantial and enabled Grosvenor to develop his country estate, where he indulged a love of country sports and horse racing.
He married Lady Constance Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland in 1852 and Queen Victoria acted as Godmother to their first child (whose son would later become the 2nd Duke of Westminster).
It was initially thought that Grosvenor would pursue a political career (he represented the seat of Chester for a time), but his interests really lay in developing his estates and sporting interests. He established a racing yard at Eaton Hall, which at its height employed thirty full-time grooms and stable boys, and was home to three stallions and rarely less than twenty brood mares. Out of one of these came one of the finest flat-racing horses of his time, Bend Or, who won the 1880 Epsom Derby in the hands of his regular jockey, Fred Archer. Archer stated that the stallion was the finest horse he had ever ridden; a fine accolade from a man who'd secured thirteen consecutive British jockey titles. Interestingly, Grosvenor never laid a bet on any of his horses, and indeed regarded his stable not as an extravagance, but rather as an aristocratic noblesse oblige.
His sporting prowess was illustrated perfectly during the last year of his life. Shooting at his Aldford estate, he brought down sixty-five snipe in the space of ninety minutes. He contracted bronchitis later in the year and succumbed to it on 22nd December 1899.
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Estimate £1,000-2,000
S2