doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Purdey at Julia's - great deal or problem child?

Does anyone know why the Purdey game gun (lot 580) at Julia's only went for a hammer price of $24K? If the gun was as described I would think it should bring $40K plus. At $24K I am thinking someone stole the gun or it had problems. Does anyone have any inside info?


*VERY NICE CASED PURDEY SELF OPENING SIDELOCK EJECTOR LIGHT GAME GUN. SN 28050. Cal. 12ga. This lovely shotgun was made in 1975. 27" steel bbls are marked on left bbl "J. PURDEY & SONS" and on right, "AUDLEY HOUSE. SOUTH AUDLEY STREET. LONDON. ENGLAND." Concave matted game rib. Case hardened action has typical Purdey house style bouquet and scroll engraving. Sidelocks are marked "J. PURDEY & SONS" and bottom of action is marked "J. PURDEY & SONS LONDON. ENGLAND." Beesley self-opening action with dbl triggers, top lever, and automatic safety. "Safe" is inlaid in gold letters. The straight grip, nicely figured, streaky European walnut stock is 15" LOP over checkered wood butt. Stock is lightly cast off for a right hand shooter. The individual initials "TRM" are inlaid in bottom of stock in gold. Splinter forend has Anson release. Bore diameter: right -.733, left -.733. Bore restrictions: right -.013, left -.027. Wall thickness: right -.035, left -.032. Drop at comb: 1-3/8", drop at heel: 2-3/8". Weight:6lbs. 10.25oz. The gun is housed in a leather motor case with leather corners, James Purdey & Sons leather label, James Purdey & Sons charge card with specifications of this gun, 2-pc wooden cleaning rod, leather wallet with cleaning brushes, mops, etc., 1 pair James Purdey & Sons 12 bore snap caps, Purdey marked square oil bottle, spare striker case with strikers and springs, and one rosewood handled screwdriver marked "James Purdey & Sons London." CONDITION: Fine. Ejectors are in time. Bbls have 90% orig blue, thinning a bit back toward forend with a few abrasions from handling and use. Bores are bright and shiny with no visible imperfections. Action retains 90% of its orig case color, thinning on the bottom, silver on action beads, and grey on lockplates at rear of left plate and front of right plate. There is also some thinning of color on action balls. Trigger guard retains 50% of orig charcoal blue and is silver in grip area. Top lever blue shows wear and is silver on thumbpiece. Safety button has traces of orig. blue. Forend iron shows about 50% blue, as does the forend tip. There is no fire blue on the hinge pin but tumbler ends retain 80%. Lock screws show evidence of being turned; all other screws are fine. Buttstock shows 95% of orig hand-rubbed oil finish with a few handling marks mostly on the left hand side. Orig checkering remains relatively sharp. Condition of forend is about the same as the buttstock, again with a few handling marks mostly on the left hand side. Overall, as honest a gun as you will find. Case is in excellent condition and comes with its orig canvas outer cover. 4-31662 MGM17 (20,000-30,000)

kdross; I was at the auction. It was a very nice gun, I think that the 27" barrels, and the 1975 date were the main reasons.

I was worried that the quality of the barrels may an issue. The 1970's produced some sub-quality guns and the barrels are the biggest issue with these guns. Personally, I like the 27" barrels.

How "sub-quality" could a 1970's Purdey be? Sounds like someone got a nice gun for the money.

A 24K Purdey will have it's share of tics - no doubt!
Nobody, but nobody spirits away a 24K Purdey, and gets away with it.

Kdross:I did the write-up for the gun. [note the initials MGM at the end of the description.] I was also the underbidder. The only issue the gun had was that it was a bit loose and needed a hinge pin. This is the gun I mentioned in a post a couple of months ago. I hope you bought the gun as I know you have been looking for a while. At $27,600 it was a very good buy. I did not bid more as I had many more "fish to fry". and also did not need another short barreled gun.

All the best, Mal

Mal, please enlighten me:

CASED PAIR PURDEY HAMMERLESS SELF OPENING SIDELOCK EJECTOR GAME GUNS
for USD25,875.- (Lot 578)

JC

IMO, the current market gave it a small ding for the barrel length, a small ding for production date, and a big ding for some pretty significant use over the past 33 years. $40,000 should get you a gun that has seen little use, no matter when it was made. New condition and very recent guns will go higher than $40,000.

Another good buy. I would not be surprised to see this pair listed at a large store in the near future for 35K+. The walls were a bit thin, and not a lot of choke, bores near .740. the striations on the action of one gun might put a few people off.
Is this an answer to your question?
All the best, Mal

What is the price after you add the Julia charges?