doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Le Tir aux Pigeons and Monte Carlo

This is an undated image, and I have no idea what is going on. Team competition? Mano-a-mano?

All of it is Fantastic Drew, simply Fantastic.

The Ring was used for the 1st Woman's International Athletic Tournament
https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/news/centenary-first-womens-olympiad

Check out the Reilly history, paragraph 75, page 90 on the Reilly line, a review of Reilly Pigeon guns. It had this to say about Monte Carlo:

The Monte Carlo pigeon shooting tournament in January of each years was regarded as a sort of unofficial world championship.*75j A well known Italian marksman pigeon shooter Giuseppe Guidicini *75k using a Reilly pigeon gun placed 2nd in the 1884 Monte Carlo pigeon shoot and won it all for the 1885 season (shot in Monaco in January 1886).



Reilly advertised his win in the London papers in January and early February 1886.*75l
. . . . . . . . . .28 Jan 1886, “Sportsman”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Jan 1886, “Morning Post”


The following quote is from Wyman's 1888 Industrial Encyclopedia on Reilly Pigeon gun success:

At the end of the 1882 season “Holts” Calendar gave the aggregate of winnings, of which the following statement was made about Messrs. Reilly’s guns.
--“Season of 1882, won at the principle shooting clubs near London – 17 Prize Cups, value £519; a Gold Medal, value £50; a silver medal and £6,148 in specie (equivalent to $750,000 today); which was nearly twice as much in prizes and specie as by guns of any other maker.”
-- In the season of 1883 Messrs. Reilly were again very successful, and gentlemen shooting with their guns at Hurlingham and the Gun Club won 16 Cups, value £505, and £3,162 in specie results which again placed Reilly a very long way in front of other gunmakers.
-- In the season of 1884 they headed the list of winning guns, their patrons securing cups worth £3,982, nearly £3,000 in money prizes.
-- In 1885 they were also successful, 13 cups and £2,603 being the prizes won by their guns at the principal shooting clubs.
-- The Grand Prix du Casino, the principle "objet d’art" of the International Meeting at Monaco was won in 1886 by Signor Guidicini, the Italian sportsman who was second the previous season. Besides the valuable trophy, estimated at 5,000 francs, the Signor won 18,250 francs, (about $200,000 today) killing 19 birds consecutively within the limited boundary, shooting with one of Messr. Reilly’s full-choke 12-bore pigeon guns, defeating seventy-four other competitors*75m

That's not to shabby either.


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

Athol Purdey at Monte Carlo

1905

Another postcard showing the platform and the boundary fence

This is a magazine illustration from 1898 showing a different building, porch, awnings & walk-way



An undated postcard; same




I have to think there were 2 rings at Monte Carlo

What a delightful post. Thank you, Drew