Muzzle-loading rifle brings top price

Press, 25 October 1982, Page 2

Muzzle-loading rifle brings top price

By

DERRICK ROONEY

A top price of $1550. paid for a muzzle-loading Whitworth rifle probably more than a century old but still registered for black-powder target shooting, was the highlight on Saturday of the annual auction of vintage firearms, militaria. and related memorabilia held at the Horticultural Hall by the New Zealand Antique Arms Association. The auction, held each Labour Day week-end in conjunction with the association's annual conference, is restricted to its members, but is widely regarded as setting "benchmarks" against which collectors can assess the value of items they own. Though most prices were firm on Saturday, the general tone of the auction reflected the tight economic situation. Bidding for many lots was slow, but the association’s auctioneer. Mr Les Perham, who was also elected as its president for the coming year on Saturday, pushed the sales through at the rate of about 85 an hour, and the auction of 675 lots was completed soon after 10 p.m. About 34 items, rather more than is usual, were passed in after failing to reach the reserve, and a number were knocked down, with the approval of the vendors, below their reserve prices. Plenty of money seemingly was available for the better items, but little interest was shown in many of the curiosities and “fringe" articles that have helped to make sales more interesting. However, some purchases were startling. A postal bid of $126 secured an early air rifle that had attracted bids of only $l5 from the floor; postal bidders also took an American Quackenbusch air rifle at $155 and a Daisy air rifle at $65, leaving floor bidders gasping. Among the more unusual items which attracted atten-

tion were a German World War II paratrooper's "gravity knife.” with wooden handle and retractable blade; it went for $l3O after spirited bidding which indicated that it was a keenly sought item by collectors of militaria. A 3in cast-iron cannonball will' make an unusual paperweight for someone at $l3, and a Ngala execution knife, circa 1800, from Central Africa and full of wicked curves and angles, will make a macabre wall-hanging at $5O. Nostalgia, as always, was in demand, and evidence of this was the sale of a framed print of the Gallipoli landing at $lOO. and an R.A.F. Benevolent Fund bell, made from pieces of a shot-down German aircraft, at $2l. A curious item was a nowrare glass-ball thrower made by the Chamberlain Cartridge Company of Cleveland. Ohio. These machines were the forerunners of the modern clay trap, but instead of throwing clay birds they threw glass balls filled with feathers which fluttered down when the shooter

scored a hit. It fetched $65. The top-priced item, the Whitworth .450 muzzle-load-ing rifle which fetched $1550, reflected an upsurge of interest in black-powder target shooting — though an original item, it is now registered for shooting. Whitworth rifles, which had an unusual hexagonal bore, were noted for their accuracy. Second-top price was paid for another fine item, a

Queen Anne cannon-barrel flintlock pistol by Griffin of London (1730-1770). Some 30cm long, it has a walnut butt fitted; with grotesque mask and escutcheon. After a round of bidding it was knocked down for $9OO. ■ A top-grade Hollis 12gauge hammer gun, in its original baize-lined leather case, went for $5OO and immediately afterwards a modern gun. a Browning under-

and-over. also cased, fetched $875. These were the toppriced shotguns. A buyer paid $B5O for a German fully stocked flintlock holster pistol, dated about 1760. This ornate item features a part-octagonal barrel, carved stock with horn fore-end tip. a swanneck cock, and engraved brass furniture, including grotesque butt-cap and sideplate. It was described as being in very good condition and working order. Collectors’ military weapons met a ready sale, and prices were firm for the few Snider. Enfield, and Martini-Henry rifles on offer. An 1851 Colt Navy revolver, a rare 1863 Spencer cavalry carbine from the American Civil War. and a 7.63 mm Mauser pistol with broomhandle stock al] fetched $750. A fine Martini-Henry target rifle by Jeffery, of London described as “in full military order.” went for $7OO, while at the modern end of the scale a Chinese AK47 assault rifle went for $520.

A little lower on the price scale were several interesting Winchesters, including a .401 self-loading rifle and an 1887 lever-action shotgun both rare items. The shotgun fetched $325. In the rimfire field, a Winchester high-wall single-shot musket fetched $2OO, and a Winchester thumb-trigger rifle went for $l3O. Two other very interesting items were rolling-block Remington single-shot rifles which turn up frequently ir auctions in the rimfire calibres, but are seldom seer in the larger centre-fire versions. The larger of the two which had begun life as e .433 Egyptian calibre military rifle and had been rebarrelled to .303 British went for $4OO. The other, ar elegant rifle in the obsolete black-powder 38/40 calibre fetched $275.