Lot 419*,S58
A fine .450 (Black Powder Express) double-barrelled hammer rifle by Alexr. Henry, no. 3920
12 May 2016, 14:00 BST
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £3,750 inc. premium
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A fine .450 (Black Powder Express) double-barrelled hammer rifle by Alexr. Henry, no. 3920
Jones patent rotary-underlever, non-rebounding backlocks with bolted-hammers, percussion fences, best foliate-scroll engraving, much hardening-colour, the well-figured stock with pistolgrip (cracked and expertly repaired at hand), engraved pistolgrip-cap with trap, cheek-piece and chequered steel butt-plate, sling-eyes, the damascus barrels with matt sight-rib engraved Alexr. Henry, Edinburgh and London, Patent No. 3089, Maker to Their Royal Highness' the Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh with open-sights and bead-foresight
Weight 9lb., 14⅜in. pull (14⅛in. stock), 28in. barrels, London Black Powder proof
Weight 9lb., 14⅜in. pull (14⅛in. stock), 28in. barrels, London Black Powder proof
Footnotes
The makers have kindly confirmed that the rifle was completed in 1877 as a .450 best double centre-fire rifle for His Grace, The Duke of Buccleugh
Walter Francis Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch, 7th Duke of Queensberry (1806 – 1884)
He succeeded his father at the age of thirteen in 1819. He was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge and in June 1833 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.
A great Scottish land magnate and a Conservative in politics, he was appointed a Knight of the Garter in 1835 and a Privy Counsellor in 1842. He served as Lord Privy Seal from 1842 to 1846 and as Lord President of the Council in 1846, when he reluctantly supported Peel's decision to repeal the Corn Laws. After Peel's fall, the Duke's political career largely came to an end. In 1878 he became Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, a post he held until his death in 1884.