Frank Clarke Titan Mk1?

[Baxlin]

[IMG]Photo 28-06-2021,17 29 47.jpg[/IMG]Hi all, a newbie here, my first post, hopefully it’ll be of interest.

I recall ‘playing with’ one of my Dad’s air pistols as a lad in the 1950s, and hung onto it when we cleared his house after his death a few years ago.

Cutting a long story short, trying to de-clutter, I took it, along with a couple of sheath knives, to the Police station, to be destroyed. However, the PC who took it in had an interest in weapons, and thought it looked unusual, so did a bit of investigating, phoning me to say a local dealer had identified it as a Frank Clarke Titan Mk1, a fairly rare air gun.

It does look identical to pictures of that air gun, so it didn’t get crushed!

Unfortunately I can’t work out how to post photos yet.

Malcolm

[Garvin]

[IMG]Photo 28-06-2021,17 29 47.jpg[/IMG]Hi all, a newbie here, my first post, hopefully it’ll be of interest.

I recall ‘playing with’ one of my Dad’s air pistols as a lad in the 1950s, and hung onto it when we cleared his house after his death a few years ago.

Cutting a long story short, trying to de-clutter, I took it, along with a couple of sheath knives, to the Police station, to be destroyed. However, the PC who took it in had an interest in weapons, and thought it looked unusual, so did a bit of investigating, phoning me to say a local dealer had identified it as a Frank Clarke Titan Mk1, a fairly rare air gun.

It does look identical to pictures of that air gun, so it didn’t get crushed!

Unfortunately I can’t work out how to post photos yet.

Malcolm

You took a Titan Mk1 to the police station for destruction! OMG That must be the saddest story yet I've heard on this BBS, Malcolm (although with a happy ending)! Please send me the pics and I'll host them for you.

[Epicyclic]

A Tell 3 appeared at a recycling centre in Lincoln backalong...
Makes you wonder about the fate of the 'missing' ones whose demise made the survivors rare...😐

[Geezer]

Welcome to the BBS.

You appear to have a sensible, well-informed, and nice local police person when it comes to guns.

Did he also tell you that the sheath knives were definitely not illegal to own and maybe worth something (depending on what they were)?

I have an odd fascination with news stories about gun surrenders. The vast majority are airguns, replicas, or rusted broken pinfire pocket revolvers presented as “deadly weapons” or drilled, plugged, cut and welded de-acts presented as fully functioning “machine guns”.

And every once in a while you see something that ought to be in a museum, or at least legally owned on certificate by a collector, being chopped up and melted down.

Not to say that they don’t get some properly dangerous stuff, like war souvenir pistols or sawn-offs, but they always seem to be the minority.

[Baxlin]

Yep, good cop! He said he’d 3 choices. Let it go to the crusher, keep it himself, or phone me!

The the sheath knives, one may have had some value, it had a Deer’s foot handle, but it was in awful condition, not very nice at all, so I took the conscious decision to let it go. The other was a cheapo.

[Powderfinger]

Priceless and historic collectibles get destroyed in their thousands when people take them to the police. If you have a gun or knife that you do not want then hand it in at a gun shop. They will pass it to the police if the item is illegal to own. They will sell it to a collector if it is legal to own.

[Garvin]

Malcolm's rescued Titan Mk1 here.

[micky2]

Malcolm's rescued Titan Mk1 here.

Thank goodness to the police for a change. well done that officer. a very very rare pistol and what a great condition it is in. l have never seen one in the flesh.

[johnno]

Great save!

[ccdjg]

Yes, that was a very narrow squeak!

You only have to go back about 15 years to find that collectors did not believe this pistol actually existed. The known line drawing of this odd looking gun found in some early adverts was put down to artistic licence. As is usually the case, after a real example came to light, more soon followed. Even so, this new amazing find only increases the current tally to about 7. The following serial numbers are known: 124, 234, 274, 298, 344 and 397, so I doubt that more than 400-500 were ever made, which certainly makes it a very rare and valuable survivor, especially with it being in such fantastic condition.

[Garvin]

Video of the Titan Mk1 being fired now added.

[Baxlin]

Well, rightly or wrongly, I’ve today sent it to Holts auctioneers to be entered in their September sale. I’ll report back in due course.

[Garvin]

Well I think we should try and guess the hammer price. I'll go first. £1,000.

[micky2]

Well, rightly or wrongly, I’ve today sent it to Holts auctioneers to be entered in their September sale. I’ll report back in due course.

I think you have done the right thing by putting it up for auction, as that is where it will get it's true value.

[micky2]

Well I think we should try and guess the hammer price. I'll go first. £1,000.

Hi Danny, l think it will top that, going for £1500.