HEADS UP lots of air guns at auction

[wrightonn]

JUST SPOTTED THIS, auction tomorrow, lot of webley pistols two mk11 service, series 2 and three(boxed peepsight missing)2x heanal pistols 26 and 28,lots of bsa, rifles, AND a Fritze langhaman pistol auctioneers est £20 -30 , eek,all this and more at BEARNES HAPTON AND LITTLEWOOD ATB RAY.

[lodmoor]

Wish I had known about this before!

Just browsed the catalogue and I am amazed at how wrong (low) they are on most items but others they seem to have got correct - very odd. I thought that the Webley pistols might be heaps of rust but they are not. Maybe, because of the high fees plus VAT, people are not bidding so much????

A goodly collection of goodies though particularly the Lahgham which looks in excellent condition, if it went for the top estimate the lucky buyer would get it for £37.02!

[Garvin]

Wish I had known about this before!

Just browsed the catalogue and I am amazed at how wrong (low) they are on most items but others they seem to have got correct - very odd. I thought that the Webley pistols might be heaps of rust but they are not. Maybe, because of the high fees plus VAT, people are not bidding so much????

A goodly collection of goodies though particularly the Lahgham which looks in excellent condition, if it went for the top estimate the lucky buyer would get it for £37.02!

I looked at the Langenhan last night and decided it probably had a replacement cocking link which you can see when you compare it with these examples. It sold for £40.

[micky]

I looked at the Langenhan last night and decided it probably had a replacement cocking link which you can see when you compare it with these examples. It sold for £40.

Good spotting there Danny, but it is well pitted as well, was the £40 the hammer price?.

[Garvin]

Good spotting there Danny, but it is well pitted as well, was the £40 the hammer price?.

Yes Mick. I think that would have been hammer. Looking at the pistol pic again closely, I think the left breech fork is cracked and a chunk missing, too.

[Lakey]

Early Friedrich Langenhan Mk 1 pistols - What is the attraction?

I have been into old airguns for years, and see beauty in most things, but the attraction of these crude and basic pistols is totally lost on me. They are cut down junior rifles pure and simple, and must be the most ungainly and unwieldy pistols EVER made. My advice to would be buyers is "Save your money" - Just buy a cheap BSA Cadet, get a hacksaw and saw off half the barrel and the back end of the stock, and Bobs your uncle, there you have it.


Lakey

[Garvin]

Early Friedrich Langenhan Mk 1 pistols - What is the attraction?

I have been into old airguns for years, and see beauty in most things, but the attraction of these crude and basic pistols is totally lost on me. They are cut down junior rifles pure and simple, and must be the most ungainly and unwieldy pistols EVER made. My advice to would be buyers is "Save your money" - Just buy a cheap BSA Cadet, get a hacksaw and saw off half the barrel and the back end of the stock, and Bobs your uncle, there you have it.


Lakey

As an experienced collector like you knows very well, Andy, vintage airgun beauty is just as much in the eye of the beholder as any other kind!

It's funny, I would have said exactly the same about the Tell 1 a couple of years ago, but now see it as an extremely elegant antique. And it's not that many years ago (8?) that I used to find even the BSA underlevers rather crude because they lacked a forend, which for some reason was essential, to my eye, although I loved the Webley Mk2 Service.

But then I saw the light and couldn't get enough of the BSAs. Which just goes to show that I'm a fickle creature and my head is easily turned.

But I suspect you were probably being a bit tongue-in-cheek anyway.

[Lakey]

As an experienced collector like you knows very well, Andy, vintage airgun beauty is just as much in the eye of the beholder as any other kind!

It's funny, I would have said exactly the same about the Tell 1 a couple of years ago, but now see it as an extremely elegant antique. And it's not that many years ago (8?) that I used to find even the BSA underlevers rather crude because they lacked a forend, which for some reason was essential, to my eye, although I loved the Webley Mk2 Service.

But then I saw the light and couldn't get enough of the BSAs. Which just goes to show that I'm a fickle creature and my head is easily turned.

But I suspect you were probably being a bit tongue-in-cheek anyway.

Ha Ha, how right you are Danny. All said with tongue firmly wedged in cheek of course. I realise beauty is in the eye of the beholder (I happen to have a soft spot for the Sterling Arms HR81 and HR83 rifles, however most people seem to slate them )
In my mostly misspent youth, I once did totally block the barrel of a cadet major rifle (must have been aged 13 or 14), and I tried to clear the barrel by sawing rings of the end slice by slice. By the the time the barrel was clear I only had about eight inches of it left. I fashioned a foresight out of a little block of balsa wood and a pin, and shot tin cans in the garden. Eventually the gun ended up round a mates house, and he 'improved' it further by welding a crude foresight blade onto the barrel, and sawing off the rearend of the stock, trying to turn it into a pistol so that he could stick it down his trousers. He ended up spraying the whole creation with battleship grey primer. Everytime I see an FLZ Mk 1 I am reminded of that gun - for all the wrong reasons.

Happy care free days........ Seems a totally different world now (and not for the better!)

All the Best

Andy