The gun: an E.M. Reilly 4 bore side-by-side, double barrel hammer shotgun. 36″ damascus bbls, Jones-under lever action. Probably circa 1870. Being sold with NO RESERVE.
Who has it: Brzostek’s Auction Service, 2052 Lamson Road, Phoenix, NY 13135 (a little northwest of Syracuse)
When’s the auction: Friday, January 1. 2010
The good news: A top-quality, London-made big-bore double, probably owned by a serious waterfowler. It looks pretty original and unmessed with. It’s in its original case. The auctioneer says it came out of a mid-Atlantic estate. Nice engraving.
The bad news: There’s a lot of rust on the outside of the barrels and on the forend iron. There doesn’t appear to be too much rust inside the bbls. The external rust may be superficial and it may clean up pretty easily. Or the bbls may be scrap. I don’t know.
