PULBOROUGH.- The catalogue for Gavin Gardiner Limited’s sale of Modern & Vintage Sporting Guns on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 is now available and can be viewed online at Gavingardiner.com or will be arriving with subscribers very soon.

However due to the current Covid-19 situation, the auction will be held as a live online auction from their own premises. Prospective bidders are encouraged to request condition reports for the lots that they are interested in, as it will not be possible to view the items in person. Bidding can be done either live online with their partner Invaluable.com or as written commission bids. The sale will start at 2pm.

Auctioneer Gavin Gardiner said; “Already 80% of our bidders and buyers participate in the auction remotely, either by online bidding, or by written commission bidding. We respond to more condition report requests than ever before as the Online world evolves, and more and more of our clients prefer to bid remotely rather than travel to the saleroom to participate in person. The current situation with Covid-19 prevents travel for a traditional auction and we are already ideally placed to respond by presenting the auction exclusively online for the first time. We value our customer feedback and look forward to a successful auction on April 22.”

This is Gavin Gardiner’s first sale of the year, it will include a good selection of fine English and European sporting guns and among the notable items is a fine pair of Ken Preater game scene engraved 12-bore “Royal de Luxe” model self opening sidelock ejector guns, built in 1975 by Holland & Holland. The guns have 28-inch chopper lump barrels and retain much of their original finish. They are expected to fetch £30,000- £40,000.

Elsewhere a pair of 12-bore sidelever sidelock ejector guns by Stephen Grant & Sons is estimated at £5,000-£7,000, and a pair of 12-bore “Utility” model boxlock ejector guns, built with 25-inch barrels and retaining some original finish by E.J. Churchill, carry an estimate of £3,000-£5,000.

Also of note is a fine 12-bore “Bowood” model boxlock ejector gun, completed in 1981 as a limited edition to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer by W & C Scott. The gun is sold with a comprehensive file of original paperwork and receipts and appears unused (estimate: £1,200-£1,800).

The sale will include over 200 lots of fine sporting guns, rifle and shooting accessories, including a number of vintage guns, military firearms and a collection of heritage hand
guns.