Holts - BSA Standard sold for £1,300 hammer!

[Garvin]

This beautiful example sold for £1,300 hammer!

Note the transitional stock.



B.S.A. FOR A. G. PARKER, BIRMINGHAM
AN EXTREMELY GOOD .22 UNDER-LEVER AIR-RIFLE, MODEL 'STANDARD 'MATCH'', serial no. S39108,
for 1929, with blued 19 1/4in. tapering barrel fitted with a rare 'A.G. Parker' windage adjustable pillar fore-sight with side-protectors, elevating notch rear-sight forwards of the loading tap, plain air chamber signed in bright etching 'THE BSA STANDARD AIR-RIFLE .22 BORE (No2)' together with the manufacturers details and patents on five further lines, three-hole trigger-unit signed on the top 'A.G. PARKER & Co LTD. BIRMINGHAM', walnut chequered saw-handled grip fitted with a BSA peep-sight (re-mounted by Parker'), iron trigger-guard and push-button under-lever with no provision for fore-end, the whole remaining in outstanding original condition and showing minimal signes of use (an odd hairline scratch to finish and screwheads slightly marked)

[Binners]

And to think I just sold one just like that with a slip and pellets for £190

[45flint]

What wonderful condition! And unusual. In the US we just had 5? BSA underlevers go through an auction site is just horrid condition, condition just so much of the price.

[rancidtom]

It is in wonderful condition apart from the various screw slots, obviously two (or more) fairly wealthy bidders wanted it. It's all in the eye and the wallet of the beholder after all...

[45flint]

I still remember a BSA light in awesome shape and I thought it was a little too much money. Waited for it to come down for two weeks and then someone buys it for the high buy it now price. Probably the smart guy. I’ll spend years trying to find one like it!

[gingernut]

Must be something in the water supply.

[silva]

A beauty. Would be interesting to have a picture of the foresight and the A.G Parker engraving. Definitely got the look of having been owned by an engineer. Certainly has been very well looked after over the years.

It is a lot of money, but items in near perfect condition like this rifle are very rarely encountered or come up for sale and will always command their own price. I reckon it was probably a good investment in the long run. People spend more than that on a TV or a ropey old sofa.

Hope it still gets few pellets through it now and then though, it would be a shame if it didn't !

[Lakey]

High price, but in all the years I have collected BSA's I have never seen another rifle like that one, and the great condition only added to the attraction. I guess a collector bought it, and will now sell two or three other lesser rifles in his collection to make up some of the financial outlay.
You could look for many many years, and not find a similar rifle in similar condition. Bet it shoots like a dream

Beautiful thing !

[RichardH]

I was looking at that yesterday, it was very fine

[Josie & John]

Yes, a beauty indeed.

The foresight looks like it could be a Parker Hale Sprawson type, although the Holts image differs slightly to those in contemporary A.G. Parker catalogues.

The aperture sight is extremely rare too and I do not know of any others in collections. Look closely and you will see it started life as a standard BSA No 22 but has been adapted with an additional screw to allow for lateral adjustment. Normally on these sights lateral adjustment was made by moving the base left or right via the rear mounting screw. A.G. Parker did advertise this adapted sight in their 1928 and 1930 catalogues but it had been dropped by 1933. They explained at the time that only a few had been converted and this rifle fits perfectly within that timeline.

I would love to have owned such a magnificent example of BSA / AGP engineering.

John M.