Lot 463S2
A rare 12-bore sidelock hammer ejector gun by Stephen Grant & Sons, no. 6340
18 May 2017, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £20,000 inc. premium
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A rare 12-bore sidelock hammer ejector gun by Stephen Grant & Sons, no. 6340
With an extra set of barrels
Incorporating Stephen Grant's Patent No. 4360 of 1888, the rib numbered '1', sidelever, hand-detachable rebounding sidelocks, percussion-fences, best foliate-scroll engraving, the well-figured stock (cast-on) with wood extension, the replacement chopper-lump barrels engraved Sir Joseph Whitworth's Fluid Pressed Steel with game-rib engraved Stephen Grant & Sons, 67A St. James's Street, London, the extra barrels engraved New Barrels By I.M. Crudgington, 7 Green Street, Bath with matt Churchill style rib
15⅛in. pull (13¾in. stock)
Grant barrels:- Weight 7lb., 31in. barrels, approx. ¼ & ¾ choke, 2¾in. chambers, Birmingham nitro reproof
Crudgington barrels:- Weight 6lb. 13oz., 28in. barrels, approx. I.C. & ½ choke, 2½in. chambers, Birmingham nitro proof
Incorporating Stephen Grant's Patent No. 4360 of 1888, the rib numbered '1', sidelever, hand-detachable rebounding sidelocks, percussion-fences, best foliate-scroll engraving, the well-figured stock (cast-on) with wood extension, the replacement chopper-lump barrels engraved Sir Joseph Whitworth's Fluid Pressed Steel with game-rib engraved Stephen Grant & Sons, 67A St. James's Street, London, the extra barrels engraved New Barrels By I.M. Crudgington, 7 Green Street, Bath with matt Churchill style rib
15⅛in. pull (13¾in. stock)
Grant barrels:- Weight 7lb., 31in. barrels, approx. ¼ & ¾ choke, 2¾in. chambers, Birmingham nitro reproof
Crudgington barrels:- Weight 6lb. 13oz., 28in. barrels, approx. I.C. & ½ choke, 2½in. chambers, Birmingham nitro proof
Footnotes
The makers have kindly confirmed that the gun was completed in 1891 as No. 1 of a trio of a 12-bore breech-loading centre-fire sidelever hammer ejector guns with 31" Whitworth barrels for Lord Curzon, 4th Earl of Howe
Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe (1861 – 1929) was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1885 Curzon was elected Member of Parliament for Wycombe and was later appointed Treasurer of the Household under Lord Salisbury in 1896, a post he held until 1900, when he inherited his father's titles and gave up his seat in the House of Commons. From 1900 to 1903 he served as Lord-in-Waiting under Lord Salisbury and then Arthur Balfour. In 1903 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and appointed Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra. He served in that post until the Queen's death in 1925.
Curzon was a Captain in the Prince Albert's Own Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry, as well as an honorary Lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd Battalion of the Leicestershire Volunteer Regiment.
Curzon was also awarded several high decorations from many European powers such as the Order of Dannebrog by Denmark, the award of the Grand Cross by Greece, the Order of St. Olaf by Norway, the Polar Star of Sweden and the Royal Victorian Chain by his native Britain.
The makers have also confirmed that in 1922 the new barrels were fitted and in 1933 the guns then past to his grandson Edward Richard Assheton Penn Curzon, 6th Earl Howe CBE 1908 –1984) who was an officer of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in World War II before becoming a Conservative politician