Let me insist that my original question IS RELEVANT, at least for many potential buyers that have the money but not the time to find out when they go "into a sea, of great guns and fine people, that is occasionally punctuated by sharks, charlatans and exorbitant prices" in the words of Ross Seyfried.
No, I don't think so. It's important for any buyer to be knowledgeable when shopping for a best gun, especially at a best gun price, or obtain help from someone who is.
It is an established fact that outsoursing amongst the London gun makers is kept as secret as possible.
It most certainly is not, and that's the source of the misunderstanding here. I've asked the question many, many times, often of people in the trade that didn't know me from Adam. They've been uniformly forthcoming.
Its is also a fact that they have no trouble mentioning that stocks are obtained from Turkey, but some are not so willing to say from where they obtain their barrels, frames and locks.
Again, that simply isn't true. I have a friend, who is not British, who owned and ran one of the famous London houses for many, many years. He's since sold the company, but is still active in the British gun trade, and still knows most of those involved. He knows, and he isn't shy about disclosing "insider secrets" - because they're not. I've bounced the answers I've gotten off him, and he's usually able to confirm them.
Lets asume for the sake of argument that a London gun maker gets their guns in the white from Spain. Once they are finished he charges €53.000 + VAT for a best side by side.
I don't know of anyone that does that and represents or prices them as best guns. If a major name did so, it would not be secret for long, as the trade is just too porous, and their reputation would be fried. The example of Powell that another poster provided is a good one - they're specifically identified as being sourced from Spain and are marketed as price guns, not top price bests. Likewise Rigby during the '80s and '90s. Rigby marketed both shotguns and rifles built on actions from Arrizabalaga, barreled in Ferlach, and stocked and finished in the UK. Paul Roberts didn't know me from Adam when he showed them to me for the first time. As he handed them to me, he explained precisely where they were from. Again, they were marketed as price guns, not bests, and were priced much, much lower than their British built guns.
Then lets have a look what the Basques have to offer in their top of the line side by sides. What we found is that we can buy three or four guns from Arrizabalaga, Arrieta, AYA, Garbi or Grulla, that will be in the same category, the only difference being barrel and wood finish and engraving. My bet would be that a good number of discerning buyers, having the money and being in the know, will go for a pair of Spanish best guns, spending the balance in a series of driven shooting parties, probably in Britain.
You're kidding yourself.
