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!
Wait till you see what a Cowboy Action fellow can do to a gun...
jas
I'm glad my Purdey is authentic, made in the good 'ole U.S.A.
Geno
What gage is this gun.
Casey
Geno, Evidently built for a guy who wants all his pursuits and/or interests depicted on one "canvas".
Broadly speaking, of course.
jack
That gun is disgusting. Is it for sale?
A gun like that could give you a stiff neck if you shot it. More money than brains as they say and some engravers will do anything for money, because they like to eat just like we do.
Well: The shotgun depicted above certainly adds a whole new perspective to the saying "That a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush!"
Jim
Evidently it was not made for Liberace.
Doggone it!! Where did that engraver get the pictures of my wife?!
A gun like that could give you a stiff neck if you shot it. More money than brains as they say and some engravers will do anything for money, because they like to eat just like we do.
A stiff neck??
Erotica by famous artists, either for themself or well-heeled clients, isn't as rare as one would be led to believe. About ten years ago there was a lushly engraved over-under that did indeed, appear to have been inspired by extensive reading of, or participation in, 1970's Penthouse Variations stories.
If anything, it was more graphic and sported more active illustrations than the one under review. Alas, the saved pics disappeared during a 'puter changeover. You might say that I should have backed her up more securely. ;~`)
Isn't engraving a wonderful medium? Hmmm...a nice water-fowling piece in the style of Bottecelli, with maids arising from the waves?
You've got to hand it to the Italians ... if that was a German gun, it would be engraved with pheasants and ugly dogs.
Small Bore´s Purdey story is not worst. I have even heard that somebody has ruined his old quality shotgun with screw in chokes!
H&H makes mod. Sporting with screw-in-chokes.
OFF. Tuomo. check your PM plz. Thanks.
OFF. Tuomo. check your PM plz. Thanks.
Sorry Geno, but no new messages in my box. You can send e-mail if PM not work.
There is a pair of those Pasotti engraved 16br 'Michelangelo' grade Bosis guns. Some Moskow billionaire might go for them, you will be surprised what couple bottles of vodka can do!
PS. The only city in the west with more billinaires then Moskow is New York, New York.
Looks like an average South Dakota hunting trip.
Does that make it a "box" lock?
Jeff
All this commentary on the engraving and not a single mention of the gap on the fitting of the floor plate, which looks almost as large as the one on the dragons engraved H&H which generated so much commentary earlier. Anyone want to opine why the gap is less noticed on this gun? ;-)
We were all looking at the "other" gaps!
Those pictures are from Fine European Gunmakers: Best Continental European Gunmakers & Engravers, which also shows a few examples of two guns that have extremely "unique" engraving. Although I do no recall the firm who produced the guns, I do recall what was engraved on the actions. The one was created for producer Steven Spielberg I believe, and the other for Robert Zemeckis.The one for Zemeckis was covered in images from the movie Forrest Gump, and the one for Spielberg with images from Jurassic Park. I will have to scan the images later today to truely show you all how to ruin an Italian best.
Should have had a 1 eyed whore siting in an outhouse with the door open. It would have been more fitting.
Tyrannosaur, velasoraptors,....belong on calibers from .577NE, and up. I wouldn't turn down rifled 8br so engraved.
Rose and scroll dressing seems a bit wimpy on such guns!
That Bosis is positively tasteful by comparison with the Francotte - you can't actually see the 'train going into the tunnel' as it were, or more specifically 'trains gong into both tunnels' on one lock plate!
Belgians luv their gargoyles, goblins,.....
Those guns look good next to a wigi board!
This should not seem strange since Euro nobility admire rustic castles and plenty of 17th-18th century nudity on their walls.
The aristocrat that owns that Bosis 16br brace probably wears Ulysse Nardin 'Erotic' watch.
I wouldn't want that gun because when I got away from my wife on a hunting trip and started looking at it I would cut the trip short and go home.