IGC - Forum

Only four guns by E Anson have been recorded, all with the Egyptian Hall address which was, in fact, his fathers. The numbers range from 500 to 5000. Yours must be a trade gun bearing the maker's number. Full history of both Ansons in the database.

The serial number dates this gun to 1888-1889, and the proof marks are clearly Birmingham. There were substantial imports of Liege guns at around this time but I don't think this is one of them. I can read Woodcock Hill but the next word looks like Bendon. What do you think? This had been stamped in...

Where was the gun made?

That is brilliant, but how dangerous are the bears? Where are you located? What are those tubes?

Tim is right, but note that in the database it says that the owners of the firm now appear to be Alan and David Jeffries, who are engineers who still make air gun / rifle pellets and other lead products. Three Firearms Registers dating from about 1920 to 1990 were sold at auction in London in Septem...

Hi Richard, Most gun makers started their numbering systems at 100 or more to give the impression that they sold more guns than they actually did, then after a few years they'd up the numbers by 1000 or more. Some added prefixes or letters after the number for several reasons and often to record the...

I think you are absolutely correct. Such records as exist are not much help, they are simply a compilation of numbers from guns seen for sale in recent years, they are not from any written records. The earliest number recorded is 2154 and this was dated by proof marks as being c.1925-1930. The highe...

This could well be a Webley 700 the serial number dating it to about 1970 although I would have thought Holland & Holland of all people would have gone for a 701 or 702 as there was not much difference in the price. In 1958 a 700 cost about £125, a 701 was £130 and a 702 £140. I guess a 1970 700 cos...

Looking at this gun again, the crossed sceptres with BPC mark was, when accompanied by the crossed sceptres V mark, definitive Birmingham proof for the period up to 1904. I am sure the gun was made by William Ansell following an order prompted by C A Ansell in South Africa. 67 is the serial number, ...

Hi David,

That would be a gun started in 1903 but perhaps not finished until 1896.