There are a lot of Purdeys on the market today. Some are worked over, some are worn out and some are overpriced. A lot are of them are all three, and that’s why so many of these guns have been looking for buyers for so long. But every now and then a real legit Purdey pops up. When it does, it usually sells right away.
This is one of these nicest vintage Purdeys I’ve seen in a while. It has condition and it was reasonably price. That’s why it sold in fewer than 12 hours.
From what I can tell, this gun was made in the late 1860s, early 1870s. Westley Richards invented the toplever in the 1862 and James Purdey patented their underbolt in 1863. The Scott spindle used to connect the two was patented in 1865. The gun you see here uses all three, so it has to be post 1865.
This gun also has a keyed forend, a feature from the percussion era that Purdey stop using when they switched to the Anson-patent forend release (introduced in 1872), and bar-action locks, which Purdey was just switching to as it developed a more modern look for its guns. One thing it’s missing is drop-points. This is pretty common on earlier Purdey. The sideclips are interesting. You don’t see side clips on a hammergun, and this has to be one of the first doubles Purdey used them on.
James Purdey 10 Bore SxS Hammer Gun: Rare light weight (8 pound) hammer game gun. Outstanding all original condition with very nice wood and good amount of case cloring remaining. Excellent 31 inch fine damascus barrels.Rare side clips and top lever. Very nice engraving and checkering.Proper 2 5/8 inch chambers with open chokes. Throws outstanding patterns and feels like a 12 bore. Excellent shootable dimensions and 14.5 inch LOP. Very little lifetime use and overall excellent condition.
