In 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II was driving in Scotland when something spooked his horses and they started backing into a crowd of people. A British lieutenant general named Archibald Hunter sprang forward, risking his life to seize the reins and pull the horses under control. He might not be well known now, but in the late Victorian era Hunter was the epitome of the boy’s own hero and the Kaiser gave him a pistol in recognition of his bravery. That pistol was in our December sale last year; it went for £30,000.
Among certain gun collectors, the story made that pistol attractive. Provenance means a lot: it might be a gun owned by royalty or someone of standing in society, or it could be associated with a historical event. We once sold a standard Colt revolver that had belonged to Al Capone, which was rather fun.
Personally, I chase guns that played a part in history. One was a strange French carbine, which turned out to be from a Venezuelan gunboat that had run a US naval blockade at the beginning of the 20th century. The boat managed to get as far as Trinidad but was cornered somewhere in the Caribbean and forced to surrender. What I found really charming is that this gun still had a round of ammunition lodged inside that had misfired. After more than 100 years it hadn’t been extricated.
Full-size image with no alignment
Full-size image with center alignment
Text-wrapped Image with a caption
Individuals who collect every type of gun are rare. I would say there are three distinct categories of collector. As well as those who prize historical associations there are the engineers — who are drawn to the mechanisms and the development of gun technology — and the aesthetes who appreciate guns purely for their beauty.
In the technological evolution of firearms, there are several major staging posts. The earliest guns were simply a tube attached to a stick, with one little hole at the back where the powder was ignited and another at the front where the bullet came out. Unfortunately, rain dampened the powder and made it unusable, so the percussion cap represented a great leap forward. The cap was filled with mercury fulminate, which would detonate on impact and set off the powder charge.