Spring-clip Webley Mark 1 pistol question

[ccdjg]

I have just been following the Bonington auction online and one of the most interesting airgun items was a Webley spring-clip Mark 1 pistol. The hammer price was £400, quite reasonable even including the 23% commission. Unfortunately the auctioneers gave no details about the pistol in their catalogue (you would only have known it was the spring-clip model if you studied the poor catalogue picture very closely) , so I was wondering if anyone had been able to attend the auction and make a note of the serial number? This first version of the Mark 1 is extremely rare, and very few serial numbers are on record. One more for the data base would be great.

Incidentally, among the vast array of Webleys a smooth grip Abas went for £500 and a cased Pope pistol for £260. I missed what a Lincoln and a long-barrel Titan went for.

It was hard to hold back on some things, but I ended up not bidding on anything.

[Garvin]

I have just been following the Bonington auction online and one of the most interesting airgun items was a Webley spring-clip Mark 1 pistol. The hammer price was £400, quite reasonable even including the 23% commission. Unfortunately the auctioneers gave no details about the pistol in their catalogue (you would only have known it was the spring-clip model if you studied the poor catalogue picture very closely) , so I was wondering if anyone had been able to attend the auction and make a note of the serial number? This first version of the Mark 1 is extremely rare, and very few serial numbers are on record. One more for the data base would be great.

Incidentally, among the vast array of Webleys a smooth grip Abas went for £500 and a cased Pope pistol for £260. I missed what a Lincoln and a long-barrel Titan went for.

It was hard to hold back on some things, but I ended up not bidding on anything.

Pic of the mk1 spring clip.

I see this was claimed to be a "factory fit" accessory on a straight grip Senior.

[Josie & John]

Pic of the mk1 spring clip.

I see this was claimed to be a "factory fit" accessory on a straight grip Senior.

That stock looks very Heath Robinson to me Danny!

John

[Troubledshooter]

The 'Spring Clip' Mk.1 would appear to be either number 171 or 121, but not enough of the number is visible.

As for the 'factory fitted' Senior shoulder stock, I've never seen anything like it and would like to know how it is actually fitted to the pistol grip. The stock doesn't look to be sufficiently well finished to be a factory fitted item. It could be fitted by a plate under the grip, similar to the HW45 stock, but not enough detail is visible.

[Abasmajor]

Not a particularly good picture, but the rear sight blade and screw appear to be missing on an otherwise reasonable looking 'Spring Clip'. It would have been nice to see the other side of the pistol.

I recall an incomplete 'Spring Clip' Mk1 (Ser No177) in almost relic condition and with an incorrect barrel sold for £520 plus costs at the Wallis & Wallis sale in June 2006

Never heard of a factory fitted shoulder stock for the 'Straight Grip' Senior. I know Cogswell & Harrison advertised something similar for their 'Certus' pistol although an actual example has yet to surface.

Regards
Brian

[Garvin]

That stock looks very Heath Robinson to me Danny!

John

I was thinking the same John. The angles are all wrong!

[ccdjg]

That stock looks very Heath Robinson to me Danny!

John

Well, whoever bought it obviously believed the auctioneer's description as it sold for the hammer price of £600! This description from a catalogue which also described a long barrel Titan with the finish rubbed off to show the bare steel as a"vintage chrome push air pistol"

[vintagewebleyman]

I have one of theses in excellent original condition ser no 469 if you want to add it to your list. How many double clips are on this list? They must be one of the rarest Webley collectables.
Regards Paul

[slug-gun]

I went to the auction and took the number of the spring clip as 253. It was all intact but in very worn condition with no original finish. The 'factory- fit' Senior was a professionally engineered job in that the fit of the stock to the bottom of the pistol grip was a steel on steel sliding fit. The stock looked like it had been adapted from a boy's air gun. Nothing to do with Webley in my opinion. Auction houses really need to provide proper provenance when making these claims.
Without such the item should be treated as 'home made' and priced accordingly!
The Lincoln pistol went for £360, about right, and the worn Titan, no finish, for £300. I thought generally the value of Webley pistols was quite low - many good items were fetching much the same money as 20 years ago!

[ccdjg]

Thanks Chris and vintagewebleyman for the serial number information. My serial number list now stands as follows:

Single clip model: 27

Double clip model:
30,
118
177
281
219
253
441
469
547
649

If anyone can provide any additional authenticated numbers I would be very grateful.

Undoubtedly the single-clip model is the rarest of the Webley Mark 1 pistols, and the double clip version comes a close second.

[pnird]

Very interesting discussion; my own double-clip example has the number 470.

John

[ccdjg]

Very interesting discussion; my own double-clip example has the number 470.

John

Thanks, another one for the pot.

John

[Josie & John]

Hi John,

I once owned 515. It was a .22 in very poor external condition. So poor in fact that I passed it on without upgrading to another. Originally bought from John Galloway at VAG for less than £200!

Kind regards,

John

[ccdjg]

Hi John,

I once owned 515. It was a .22 in very poor external condition. So poor in fact that I passed it on without upgrading to another. Originally bought from John Galloway at VAG for less than £200!

Kind regards,

John

Thanks John. The list is growing slowly. Only about another 600 or so to go.

[Troubledshooter]

Several years ago I started a thread on Webley Mk.1 Rifle serial numbers, and in association with John Atkins, we managed to get well over 100, so I hope you have similar success.