doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reilly vs Reilly

Argo44,

In case you don't look at the WR blog, this is an over the top EM Reilly Reilly .

Ken

A few more marker ads for Reilly's from the deleted photos in the main EM Reilly line:

Ad from 1858 - "Reilly" is the name used. 502 Oxford Street.




1959 ad - First mention of the branch store at 315 Oxford Street.

[

1859 ad - first mention of E.M. Reilly & Co.



1861 Ad. 502 and 315 addresses.



1868 ad...Note addition of the Rue Scribe, Paris address and the medals he won at the 1867 Paris fair and mention of "l'Emperor."



1882 Ad - note change in the numbering system on Oxford Street.

KDGJ, thanks...I got that gun in the original chronological listing. And it's a problematic gun for me: Here is my post at the time (updated a bit):


25161 - ??? !!!!!!!! 1885 SN with 1880 date on the case !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Name: E.M. REILLY & CO. 502. NEW OXFORD STREET. LONDON & RUE SCRIBE. PARIS
Descriptions: 25 1/2in. black powder only bold damascus rifled barrels. breech ends with feathered bands and single gold line, individual fore-end with Anson push rod release catch, the iron retaining much original colour-hardening; sidelever action with Purdey 1863 patent double bite, carved percussion fences, rebounding bar locks by Stanton, bar-in-wood, standing breech

Comment: This is a problematic gun for me. The gun was made for King Alphonso XII of Spain. The case is marked �shooting prize 1880�. It was supposedly given by the king as a shooting prize. But the serial number should be about 1884-85 date range; Yet the address is Pre 1882 - Reilly of course did continue at times to use his 502 address rather than �16� for reasons of tradition..but why 1880 on the case when the SN is 1885? Perhaps the gun was made later to fit the case which was already in Spain�

http://auctions.holtsauctioneers.com/asp...4&saletype=

If you read the history of the gun from the above auction site, there appears to be something odd going on. It disappeared...reappeared...etc.

If you'd like to see what Reilly could do...I'll repost this late-1850's cannon:

11xxx ?? (take a look at this 1850's "Puff the Magic Dragon" aka "Spooky")
Name: E.M. REILLY, 502 NEW OXFORD STREET, LONDON (on case Reilly & Co., 502 New Oxford Street, London).
Description: A rare cased four barreled percussion gun by Reilly, dating: mid-19th Century, provenance: London. Round, smooth barrels; the upper ones are 11 mm cal.
.....Comment: No SN. 4 (Four!!) Beautiful Damascus barrels. Muzzle loader. Looks to be late 1850�s; �EM� is clearly on the rib. "Reilly London" on the side plates. Can't figure out how the four hammers work with two triggers (looks like you pull the trigger...recock the hammer, flip over a hammer extension and pull it again). As such I�d estimate the SN should be around 11200). (It would be nice to look at the gun or to have the auction house post a SN).
http://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/a-...42-c-a92474cb0a
.....Comment: the label in the case is unique (haven't seen the like). It uses "Reilly" not "EM" (though the gun has EM on the rib) and has the 502 address. It has two medals, "Exposition Medal London" and "Prize Medal Paris" (can't read the dates - might refer to his stand at the London Fair 1851 and at Paris in 1855). Sanscrit writing on the label... and there is a French phrase "Fusils a bascule" on the label. The gun is amazing. Take a look.

Well, there are three Reilly's for sale on the net currently that I can find. One of them might be a Terry Buffum gun, an underlever hammer gun that looks to be quite fine..at a reasonable price (I supposed)....the seller won't respond to my requests for additional information. But it seems the prices have been creeping up for these fine guns. Wonder if DBS can be "blamed?"

Argo44,

Without going through your compilation, can I make the assumption you have logged the Buffum collection guns, that have been auctioned off the last couple of years?

Well, I think I got most of them. The big thing though is by compiling the list of about 300-400 extant Reilly's I was able to come up with a graph which would allow for dating pretty near all of them from the mid 1820's up to about 1903. If you can search that line with the name "Buffum" it should turn up most of them. As I mentioned in the chronology, I think that those two Reilly pistol "duelers" that Terry had, SN 176, are two of the earliest existing Reilly's anywhere. As I mentioned by about 1840's Reilly pistols were no longer numbered in the Reilly long-gun series but It's possible that early on they may have been.

However, if you could post some photos of the ones you bought, along with serial number snd the names/addresses on the ribs, it would benefit history. I recall that HWK from this board bought some of them too.

Gene Williams

edit: I just searched my draft and here are Terry's serial numbers in the chronology....you'll see in the line that Terry made some comments ...he also sent me a Reilly artifact he'd been holding. Haven't heard from him for awhile and hope he's ok. I could provide dates for these from the analysis if there is interest. I posted links on each of the recorded SN's and most still work if you want to see pics from the internet.

176 (pistols)
13033
14985
15283
15531
18550 - (from an addendum I'm still compiling)
20396
21761 - (from a subsequent list posted in the line)
21883
24354
24850 - (from an addendum not yet posted)
27570
30207
32667
32974
34221
34222
34247
35472
35493

Argo44,

Being a computer idiot, I will post photo's as soon as I can get my daughter to assist.

Following is a list of my recent acquisitions, with the information you requested. I believe these are all prior Buffum collection guns.

No 15287,
Jones under lever hammer gun 12ga. rib marked, Oxford St. London
No 26557
Jones under lever hammer gun, 20ga. barrels marked, EM. Reilly Gun & Rifle maker, 16 New Oxford St & Rue Scribe Paris
No 14985
Jones under lever hammer gun, 16ga. rib marked, E M Reilly Oxford St. London
No 22093
Woodward snap action, 12ga. no rib or barrel markings
No 21761
Woodward snap action with side bolts, quadra bolt? 500 BPE rifle
barrels marked E M Reilly New Oxford St. London & Rue Scribe Paris
No 24850
Back action side lock, hump back, H&H style, 12ga. New barrels by Darlow's of Norwich, marked on rib
In Transit:
No 7869
J C Reilly, percussion hammer gun, muzzle loader, 12ga. rib marked J C Reilly New Oxford St. London

SXS40(HWK)

Thanks Hwk for the information; I didn't have some of these. For me the most important chronologically is 7869. Like 7201 mentioned above, it is a JC Reilly and it is marked New Oxford Street.

This seems to indicate that JC Reilly may indeed have separated his numbers from those of his son upon the move in late March 1847. It may be that he reserved a lower number set for himself while EM began about 8,400. I'd love to see pics, especially of the SN and address rib. He was 61 at the time of the move, EM was 30....and EM was probably ready to take over. Perhaps he saw advancing mortality. JC died in 1863 at a country house he had retired to several years earlier (see history).

There a pretty simple site on the web which I'm now using to post pictures and you don't even have to sign in or get an account. (account is free if you do want to sign up).
-- Pull up www.postimage.org.
-- Drag your photo to box entitled "choose images"...wait till a series of formulas appear.

-- Choose the one third from bottom entitled "hotlink for forums" and just click on it and select copy from your edit button on the top of your screen.

-- Then just post the copied link into your text.

If you don't have pics...I learned from my wife. Snap a picture with your I-phone (I didn't have one till about 8 months ago), send it to you e-mail address and move it to your computer desk top. Works for documents too - no one scans stuff anymore according to a tech-savvy French woman.

I'm going back to the original line an post some of this along with another list of recently acquired Reilly SN's including some of Terry's I hadn't known about before...so that it's all in one spot and at some point, may attempt an article if some mag would be interested. (I know how to tell a story...here is an article I wrote about a 14 year old who jumped with the 504th into Sicily and became one of only 325 men to wear three CIB's)
http://specialforces78.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/1215-Sentinel-News.pdf

I am not knowledgeable of prices or condition issues. The Reilly's available in the US seem to range from $1300-on up to $8,000. The sale of Terry Buffum's guns seems to be the most recent measurable bench-mark but some things have changed this last year, including this site. "Rocketman" has a formula which seems to work - unless Reilly's move up from 3rd to 2nd tier or something.

If you're in UK, though....�1,000 will get you some interesting guns. An example (re-barrelled)

https://www.guntrader.uk/guns/shotguns/reilly-em/side-by-side/12-gauge/sidelock-170803123844011



Or another (rebarrelled):



Or: (no photos and the advertisement does seem sort of Carney-Barkerish:)

Xxxxx
Xxxxx
Lovely pair of.(12 bore boxlock ejectors by E.M.Reilly.) in very good condition for years both in proof semi pistol grips actions are very tite wood work in good condition for years barells 28in chambours 2 1-2 in both sets chokes at cylinder and quarter second barells. Quarter. and a half choke and to go with them a lovely Victorian double leg of mutton this item is quite rare now in very good condition as are the shotguns. �4.000
https://www.gunstar.co.uk/e-m-reilly-co-boxlock-ejecters-12-bore-gauge-side-by-side/Shotguns/952238