Product Details
A SCARCE .177 LANES BROS. 'MUSKETEER' BREAK-BARREL AIR-RIFLE, serial no. 1331,
circa 1910, with round 20in. smooth-bore barrel, dovetailed front and rear sights, the top of the barrel stamped 'MUSKETEER', the breech-block stamped 'LANES BROS LONDON, BRITISH MADE', plain air-chamber with locking catch on left-hand side, plain half-pistol grip butt-stock (refinished and possibly replaced), iron heel-plate, trigger unit with serial number and 'PATENT No 9644', exposed cocking link and all matching numbers (finish worn)
Provenance: Some confusion surrounds the Lanes Musketeer. It was a good design, some may say well ahead of its time and was advertised as 'entirely British made', even though Lanes themselves made no claim to its manufacture, even if the original design patent, 15553 of 1901 was theirs. Greener patented the trigger mechanism and may possibly have produced the whole rifle, but Midland Gun Company claimed in their adverts that they made it! Sadly, it was poorly marketed and fell foul of cheaper foreign imports, with some stocks remaining unsold up to the outbreak of World War One
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Estimate £200-300
Pre-1939