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The first Anson & Deeley Patent 12-bore boxlock non-ejector gun by Westley Richards, no. 5056 Built for John Deeley image 1
The first Anson & Deeley Patent 12-bore boxlock non-ejector gun by Westley Richards, no. 5056 Built for John Deeley image 2
Lot 297S2

The first Anson & Deeley Patent 12-bore boxlock non-ejector gun by Westley Richards, no. 5056
Built for John Deeley

8 December 2010, 14:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £7,800 inc. premium

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The first Anson & Deeley Patent 12-bore boxlock non-ejector gun by Westley Richards, no. 5056 Built for John Deeley

The sides of the action-body engraved with the makers name in a scrolling banner surrounded by best foliate-scrollwork, the action flat stamped Anson & Deeley's Patent 1, the underside engraved The First Anson & Deeley Hammerless Gun Patented 11th May 1875, 'Safe' inlaid in gold, well-figured stock with chequered side-panels and border-engraved blued steel butt-plate, the oval engraved 'J.D.', horn-tipped forend with Deeley patent catch, the browned damascus barrels with game-rib engraved Westley Richards, 170 New Bond St., London
Weight 6lb. 12½oz., 14½in. pull (14 3/8in. stock), 30in. barrels, both approx. cyl., 2½in. chambers, proof exemption

Footnotes

Provenance:
Westley Richards Collection

Literature:
Geoffrey Boothroyd, Sidelocks & Boxlocks, The Classic British Shotguns, 1991, pp.9-10 (illustrated)
Clare Stride, 'Anson And Deeley', The Double Gun Journal, vol. 15, issue 1, pp. 10-11 (illustrated)

Together with a facsimilie of the makers' records, showing that the gun was started in 1875 and completed in 1879, and described as 'Mr. Deeley's Gun'. The stock was originally recorded as 16¾in., but shortened to 14½in. at the time it was finished.

This gun is the first example of W. Anson & J. Deeley's patent no. 1756 of 11th May 1875, where the action is cocked by the fall of the barrels. William Anson was Foreman of the Westley Richards Gun-Action Department, and John Deeley was the Commercial Manager of the company. By 1877 Anson had left Westley Richards and was trading independently, doing so until his death in 1889. John Deeley remained with Westley Richards until his retirement, and died in 1913

Additional information