Reserved response at arms auction

Press, 22 October 1984, Page 5

Reserved response at arms auction

By

DERRICK ROONEY

A mood of restraint, possibly brought on by preBudget propaganda, was evident among bidders when the New Zealand Antique Arms Association held its annual auction during its Labour Day week-end conference at the Riccarton Park function centre on Saturday. The auction, restricted to members of the association often sets benchmark prices for buyers and sellers of antique firearms, edged weapons, and associated militaria and memorabilia. This year it seemed to indicate that there had been little or no upward movement in prices during the last year. The catalogue may have had something to do with this. Though the general standard of the offering was high, the volume was well down to only 500 lotg-com-

pared with more than 800 last year. Although six items had cracked the magic fourfigure price barrier last year, this year’s top price was only $9OO. Several items which had been tipped to pass $lOOO failed to attract the necessary bids.

The top item, quite a nice piece, was a flintlock 16bore officer’s pistol by Tyrebeck, of London. It had a twist barrel (expertly rebrowned), swivelling ramrod, and steel furniture. Close to this in quality, as well as price, was a brassbarrelled blunderbuss pistol by Meridith and Moxham. A sidelock it had engraved brass furniture. The price was $825.

Also in the top bracket was an East India Company “Brown Bess” flintlock musket, with lock dated 1789. This went for $750. Two items which jaany observers regarded as' J good

buys were English military iron-barrelled blunderbusses, which sold for 5350 and $425 — prices regarded as below their international value. The larger of the two, dated 1806, had replacement cock pin, and frizzen, and fetched the lower price. The other, fitted with a Tower lock, was considered to date from the eighteenth century. At a much lower level of craftsmanship was a Markham’s “Chicago patent” wooden air rifle. Mass-pro-duced in the 1890 s in the United States and sold mainly by mail order, these toy like little guns are now rare, most of them having “died” through borer or fatigue of their wire moving parts. Originally they sold for 75c, but curiosity value has raised this to the $7O which a bidder paid on Saturday. Another rare item whose price exceeded expectations

was a snail-drum magazine for an artillery Luger pistol. Two keen bidders, each presumably chasing one to complete a Luger set, pushed up the price to $360. Unusual, items of militaria met a willing market A packet of 12 war-time military banknotes, four issued by the Japanese and eight by the Allied occupation forces in Europe, rose rapidly from $lO to $55, at which stage it was knocked down. Another World War II item a Japanese silk “meatball” flag, went for $80; but a prayer flag, made to be carried by Japanese shock troops on a field pack, was passed in. From the Allied side, a Bren-gun tripod designed for use in anti-aircraft or fixed fire, fetched $250. The buyer would have needed a trailer to cart it away. From an earlier set of wars, a pair of American Indian stow arrowheads, found in

the Arizona desert, went for $35.

Two British entrenching tools from World War II went for $65 each, and a 10pouch bandolier from the Great War fetched $6O. A German helmet of similar vintage fetched $l2O, and a New Zealand “lemonsqueezer” hat, with infantry pugaree and Southland badge, went for $BO. Collectors of ammunition, badges, flasks, and muzzleloading shotguns had a lean time; few of their specialities were on offer. A small amount of collector’s ammunition met a ready sale, but the only copper powderflask in the sale was in a ruined condition. A more desirable item, a well made old leather shotbag, designed to be slung over the shoulder, attracted keen attention and was eventually sold to a dealer for $B5. Little interest was shown in the more common 5 , types

of military firearm, but the rare models sold well. A number of .303 rifles sold at giveaway prices, but one buyer had to to go to $4OO to secure an SMLE No. 3 Mkl rifle with charger guide on the bolthead.

One of two Johnson semiautomatic United States military rifles — a model which does not appear in auction catalogues very often — fetched $3OO, and the other $285. A Garand Ml carbine fetched $370. An SMLE No. 5 jungle carbine went for $230 but another .303 carbine went for only $7O, and again the difference was in the rarity of the model, not its condition. Top price among the military weapons was obtained for a German Erfurt 1918 Luger pistol with holster and spare magazine, for which a buyer paid $750; not all Lugers are worth as much, however. Another bidder went to $6OO for a

Chinese AK47 assault rifle, though its barrel had been drilled. Other sales above $4OO included: Colt Lightning 44/40 carbine, a very rare lighweight model, $520; .577 Snider Engineer’s carbine, BSA dated 1878, $600; Bmm Mauser sporting rifle, an early model (1880), with set triggers, leaf sights and round-to-hexagonal barrel, $550; 30/30 Winchester Model 1894, hexagonal heavy barrel, $500; 70-bore percussion transitional revolver, an interesting piece with no maker’s name, $400; .38 special Llama military revolver, Smith and Wesson type with wooden grips, $400; .56 Ballard United States Civil War military carbine, in poor condition but a rare firearm, $400; 12gauge Winchester Model 97 shotgun made for trench warfare, $440; .401 Winchester l9lO rifle, $4OO.