Holts

Holt’s next auction of fine modern and antique guns is set to take place on Thursday 19th March in Hammersmith, London. They have announced that one of the lots that they will be offering is a fine and virtually unused cased garniture of ‘Regal XXV’ boxlock ejectors in 20-bore, 28-bore and .410 by Churchills (Lot 1300). Engraved 1’, ‘2’and ‘3’ respectively, the trio comes in their lightweight leather case with green velveteen lining and complement of accessories.

Provenance: In the early 1980s, when Churchill’s ceased trading, a decision was made to sell the remaining new guns in a special auction in Texas. The last 98 new Churchill Shotguns were auctioned on Friday 5th May 1981. A full list of the guns, their estimated prices and actual realised prices can be found in the appendices of Don Masters’ book ‘The House of Churchill’. He makes special reference to Lot 1 ‘the highlight of the auction’ which was this garniture of small bore Regals. Estimated at $18,000-24,000 on the day they realised a hefty $40,000.

Holts have estimated this fine trio of Churchill smallbores at £10,000-15,000. www.holtsauctioneers.com