BC sells good stuff.

I'll take a couple of those Model 21s. Thanks for sharing.

Wonder how many actually sold?

Best,
Ted

Mike weatherby would bring over a million dollars worth of high end English French European guns to the great western gun show that is how I learned about high of end brands.and my favorite John wilkes

I once wrote a whimsical short story about a bunch of friends who go out to shoot trap one day, just for a lark. Most of 'em are noobs. The protagonist's father is from Old Money and lives in a railroad-era mansion that has an actual gunroom, which is filled with a mostly-inherited collection of best quality British side-by-sides, with the odd FN Browning Superposed and Krieghoff Model 32 thrown-in. I send the characters out with a motor-cased, two-barrelled 1990s Purdey 12, a matched pair of pre-war Holland 12s, a gorgeous little between-the-wars Woodward 28-gauge for the slightestly-built member of the gang, a Charles Hellis 12, and an Elvis Presley-grade FN Superposed Lightning 12 with barrels for Trap and Skeet. The young woman who's borrowed the Browning is an experienced and skilled subsistence bird-hunter from a Cree community in northeastern Saskatchewan, now living in the city, and she's never held an engraved shotgun before that day. Nor has she seen a clay pigeon. At one point, she shyly asks the protagonist how much the Browning's worth, which leads to knee-jerk assessment of the auction values of the rest of the crusty old bazookas they've been entrusted with for the day, and she realizes that they're barreling down the road with a quarter-million dollars worth of light flak guns in the trunk. To shoot at things they can't even eat. Philosophical discussion ensues.

Harlan Ellison once wrote, "Writers take trips in other people's lives." Well, I take trips in other people's gunrooms.

Looks like a lot of wishful thinking on that table

I was shooting with a fellow in FL years ago who had an engraved PGun. A four barrel barreled set as I recall. He was shooting the 28 gauge barrels. It took four years to build, from his order date he said. It was a master piece of engraving art, with wood you could spend a lifetime trying to find. Perfect in every way. He let me enjoy it with him and it was a delight to hold and take in. My gun was a lowly D grade 28 gauge 1100 I was left by a friend, which I was very happy with. Nice, but not in league with the PGun. At a guess, I would say it was near a 50K for the four barrel set and that was 30-40 years ago.

So off we went to shoot. When he missed high four, behind it I said. Engraving, he said let him down. And we both laughed. We shot four rounds that day and he missed one in every round. I did not. But I would say, he won. He went home with a gun, that is rarely equaled and he enjoyed shooting it and I had a meaningless practice hundred straight. I am sure he is long gone, few men live to be 100 plus. Always wondered what gun room that PGun ended up in, gathering dust as a work of art gun. That table of guns represent guns, which are held and looked at, but never shot and enjoyed. Kind of a shame to me. From that one day I learned from him, that even the finest guns are to be shot. I regularly take my Model 42 Pigeon grade and other high grades, hunting and Sporting Clays shooting. What is the point of owning a beautiful gun, if you never get to shoot it? Lend them freely to others to enjoy and use them. Nobody will care after we are gone much so let everyone enjoy what you have a bit. If I owned every gun on that table they all would get shot.

This. Something I experienced regularly when I was shooting pistol. I'd peer at a pistol or revolver, say something like, 'Wow. Never seen one of those, except in books', and have it put in my hand and be waved toward the firing line with a box of ammunition.

You've made me realize that the next time someone at the club peers at one of my side-by-sides with sincere curiosity and interest, I should offer them the shotgun and a box of shells. "If you'd care to? Right barrel's choked for Trap. Go nuts."

The more beautiful and the more valuable a gun becomes the less utility it possesses (at least for me). I certainly appreciate them, and art is art no matter where you find it, but to posess a gun you can only look at (because any use devalues it so) makes very little sense to me. Sadly, to me a gun is a tool, no-matter how much history it has and how much beauty it contains.

"A gun no matter how fine, serves its destiny only if it is shot."

I am a believer no matter how beautiful a shotgun is, it is a tool to be admired and used. I witnessed a fellow grouse hunter take a spill and broke the stock right off his H&H Royal back in the mid to late 70s here in Ohio.

Heck, sitting in a dove field I find myself reviewing the engraving and wood on my sxs or o/u and think of past hunts an friends long gone that passed along how to appreciate the art and feel of a beautiful sxs.

Rich

I live maybe 30 minutes from CT Shotgun and their showroom is amazing.

Their entry level guns are on the bottom racks where the cheap .22 rifles and low end stuff would be at a regular gun store. I saw a Holland & Holland matched pair of shotguns in their case that they were asking $250,000 just sitting on a display table where anyone could put their hands on it. They had a couple of racks of just drillings. There is a room for just stock blanks that are for sale. Plus also the guns behind glass or on racks the behind counters. If I had to guess they had between $5-$10 million dollars of inventory on display.


As an aside, I know CT Shotgun doesn't have the best reputation for customer service. I can only say I was treated well despite being someone not likely to buy any of the shotguns on display. I've only bought a couple of canvas cases from them.

I fall far short of having a gun that would be considered art, or singularly collective. But, I do own a Parker DHE two gauge set, in very high condition, that has 16 and 20 gauge barrels that both measure 32 inches in length. I use it on the on the dove fields and find it extremely useful for that pursuit. I will not own a collectible gun I will not use. It is beautiful, but yet I find it very useful. Win, win.