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LOT 321
Exceptional Documented Award Winning Exhibition Engraved
and Relief Chiseled J. Purdey & Sons .450 1/4 Inch (Black Powder
Express) Push-Forward Underlever Hammer Double Rifle
Displayed at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878 and the
Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 and Subsequently Owned
by Baron Keane with Case - Serial no. 9568, 450 Black Powder Express
cal., 28 inch solid rib bbl., blue/gray finish, walnut stock. This incredible
double rifle was manufactured in 1876 per the information on page 193
of Donald Dallas’s “Purdey Gun & Rifle Makers: The Definitive History,”
and it has been identified by Dr. Nicholas Harlow, Gunroom Manager at
James Purdey & Sons in London, as one of the guns displayed by Purdey
at both the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878 where the firm won a
gold medal and subsequently at the Sydney International Exhibition in
1879 before being sold to the 3rd Baron Keane in July 1884. John Manly
Arbuthnot Keane (1816-1901) is a noteworthy figure when it comes to
fine Purdeys from the late 19th century. He was the son of Lieutenant-
General John Keane (1781-1844) who was created Baron Keane on
August 12, 1839. Like his father, the younger John Keane also served in
the army and was as a captain for thirteen years prior to his retirement
in 1848. His elder brother, Edward (1815-1882), became the 2nd Baron
Keane in 1844 with their father’s death but himself died without an
heir leaving John to become 3rd Baron Keane. Keane purchased four
of the eight guns previously mentioned in George Sala’s description
of Purdey’s exhibit at the Exposition Universelle in 1878. When he died
in 1901, the newspapers reported that he “bequeathed to the Duke of
York his guns, gun cases and cabinets, his pistols, walking-sticks, and
hunting and riding whips. The late Lord Keane’s estate has been valued
at £11,789 gross, and £11,534 net.” Three of the four Purdey’s from the
1878 Exhibition thus became part of the Keane Bequest with another
Purdey and four pistols and are preserved within the Royal Gunroom
at Sandringham (for further reading on the Keane Bequest please read
“The Royal Gunroom at Sandringham” by David Baker, p. 105-117), and
only this stunning double rifle remains in private hands.
The rifle features blued barrels with a raised solid rib with panels of
matting at the front and rear fitted with a beaded blade front sight and
a 100 yard V-notch rear sight with platinum sight line and signed “J.
PURDEY & SONS, AUDLEY HOUSE, SOUTH AUDLEY STREET, LONDON.”
ahead of the rear sight. The underside of each barrel and the forearm
iron are marked with the matching serial numbers, and the barrels
and watertable are struck with London black powder proof marks.
“J. PURDEY/PATENTEE” is marked on top of the standing breech. The
barrels are equipped with an extractor. Aside from the barrels, the
metal components are finished in French gray and display extraordinary
deep relief chiseling and engraving primarily consisting of complex
interlacing foliate scrollwork inhabited by floral blooms and a variety of
animals, masks, and mythical beasts. The underside of the side-clipped
action features a particularly complex mask design, and a further mask
of a classical goddess is featured on the lever, and a putto is featured
on the trigger guard tang. While the engraving of all four of the guns
from the 1878 Exposition Universelle have been attributed previously
to Aristide Barre, only two were noted in the period as engraved by
Barre, and this rifle and serial number 9563 are both listed with an
“L” in the column for engraving in Purdey’s Dimension Book which is
believed to indicate engraving by James Lucas who was Purdey’s head
in-house engraver and created the firm’s house engraving patterns. The
back action island locks feature non-rebounding hammers and half-
cock safeties. The checkered walnut splinter forearm features an Anson
release engraved en suite, and the very highly figured buttstock features
a checkered wrist and an oval shadow line cheekpiece on the left. Sling
eyes are fitted to the underside of the barrels and butt, the latter ahead
of a silver oval escutcheon inscribed with the heraldry of Baron Keane.
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