Just been talking to one of the auction houses about the next sale and asked if much was coming back from the USA due to the exchange rate making US guns look cheap to Brits at the moment - unfortunately the 17.5% re-import VAT is a bit of a killer. Anyway,
They had a Purdey pigeon gun returned to London - re-stocked by a monkey with a bit of driftwood, badly sleeved barrels fraudulently engraved (also badly) with Purdey's name and address and the words 'Whitworth Steel'.
The gun had been 'kept in a well'- seroius pitting must have taken hold because some genius decided to shave about four thou off the lockplates and then got some fool to engrave some 'game scenes' (resembling crocodiles chasing dinosaur birds)birds) and the word 'Purdey' with a nail file or similar tool.
It was so awful it made the auctioneer laugh out loud in exasperation. I wonder what it will fetch? Anyone seen anything that bad recently?
I was also in agun shop last Saturday - saw a Grifnee engraved Francotte of such pornographic vulgarity that if you wrote an article on it, you'd not be allowed to show photos of it. I'm not exaggerating. I'm talking full close-up detail of stuff you can't get on video unless you go to a 'specialist'.
I bet the guy who comissioned it gave old Phillippe a home video to work from - must have been the seventies!
Unbelievable!
