Your beautiful cased Reilly brought 2,800 GBP exclusive of Buyer's Premium at Holt's December, 2007 Main Sale. You gun was made between 1883-1898 as he was at the New Oxford Street address during those years.
Best Regards, George
Many thanks George - impressive information mining and you are correct about the Holts auction price in 2007 as I purchased it from the chap who was the successful bidder that day.
I also spent some time on the Internet Gun Club and found the attached history (I hope John does not mind me posting this as I will remove if requested) -
"In 1859 J C Reilly became Reilly & Co and moved to 315 Oxford Street (later named "Armoury House"), Joseph Manton's old premises and next door to James Purdey. E M Reilly stayed at 502 New Oxford Street. In 1860 Edward M Reilly became Edward M Reilly & Co.
From 1870 to 1874 E M Reilly & Co traded from both 502 New Oxford Street and 315 Oxford Street, and in 1869 Edward started trading as E M Reilly et Cie at 2 Rue Scribe, Paris; reportedly, this shop closed in 1872.
From 1875 to 1882 E M Reilly traded only from 502 Oxford Street leaving J C Reilly on his own at 315 Oxford Street. In 1881 315 Oxford Street was re-numbered 277 Oxford Street (James Purdey ocupied 314-315 Oxford Street which, possibly because of sub-division and re-arrangement of the shopfronts/building, he called 314 1/2, it became 287-289).
The re-numbering of Oxford Street included No. 502 New Oxford Street which was re-numbered to 16 New Oxford Street.
At some time between 1884 and 1898 E M Reilly opened another shop in Paris, this time at 29 Rue du Faubourg, St Honore. When it closed is not known. In 1898, on the death of his father, Edward inherited his father's business and closed at 16 New Oxford Street."This would tend to imply that as the address on the rib was the "Rue Scribe" location, the gun was dated pre-1872 when that shop closed out?
All very fascinating - just frustrating that Reilly records apparently are no longer in existence!
