Surrey's Anglo Saxon
Registered User
About ten or twelve years ago when I was collecting Webley mk 3's, a guy contacted me in response to one of my 'wanted' ads in Airgun World. He was the executor for his late uncle's estate and in the loft of his uncle's house they had found this wooden case - homemade but well constructed - containing two early, ribbed stock, mk 3's, one of which was fitted with a PH 16M aperture sight with 6-hole eyepiece. Also in the box were TWO reversible spout oil cans and one much later orange plastic oil bottle; so three oil bottles in all!
The box also contained an orange Webley tin of pellets and a small bundle of Webley paperwork/correspondence concerning the supply and fitting of the aperture sight to one of the rifles (provenance?)
plus instruction manuals, general correspondence and the original fitting invoice etc.
The guy selling me this was not a collector so originally had little idea of its value, especially the oil cans, although initially he had taken them into a local (Suffolk) gun shop when he had been offered £100 for the lot..."not much call for these old guns mate...". I ended up paying him £450 for the lot since I could see the value in the cans, pellet tin and Webley paperwork apart from the two rifles which were both in immaculate and little-used condition having been stored for decades.
I suspect also the orange oil bottle, although relatively much more recent, must now have some value; I already had one before this purchase.
Aubrey
Registered User
Here out of interest is a picture of my Webley oil can collection in order of appearance starting with the pre-war can and ending with the final 1960s reversable spout variant. There was an earlier pre-war can and a glass bottle both of which are so rare that finding one would be almost impossible. My interest in all things Webley ended after anything later than the 1960s so, the plastic bottle oil dispensers won't be joining the collection.
The pre-war can was by far the hardest to find and eventually bought from a fellow collector for around £250 many years ago. The first post-war can was acquired as a sweetener to the sale of a Certus air pistol, so I can't really quote the actual cost. I remember paying £150 for the second series can, but admittedly this was from a dealer. The final and rarest of the 1960s cans came from a generous bbs forum member who only wanted £100 and also included some paperwork and pellets.
I can see why most collectors would probably prefer to spend their hard earned money on air guns rather than accessories but, when your interest extends to things which require less space to store or adding period accessories etc to cased air gun sets it becomes a bit easier to justify.
Brian
Surrey's Anglo Saxon
Great photo Brian
Registered User
Hi Pete,Originally Posted by Binners
Pity I don’t have the back garden background that graced so many of your own excellent pictures.
Brian
Surrey's Anglo Saxon
I see what you mean.
Registered User
Tim dyson had a boxed webley senior for sale with a full glass webley oil bottle with it a couple of months agoHere out of interest is a picture of my Webley oil can collection in order of appearance starting with the pre-war can and ending with the final 1960s reversable spout variant. There was an earlier pre-war can and a glass bottle both of which are so rare that finding one would be almost impossible. My interest in all things Webley ended after anything later than the 1960s so, the plastic bottle oil dispensers won't be joining the collection.
The pre-war can was by far the hardest to find and eventually bought from a fellow collector for around £250 many years ago. The first post-war can was acquired as a sweetener to the sale of a Certus air pistol, so I can't really quote the actual cost. I remember paying £150 for the second series can, but admittedly this was from a dealer. The final and rarest of the 1960s cans came from a generous bbs forum member who only wanted £100 and also included some paperwork and pellets.
I can see why most collectors would probably prefer to spend their hard earned money on air guns rather than accessories but, when your interest extends to things which require less space to store or adding period accessories etc to cased air gun sets it becomes a bit easier to justify.
Brian
Registered User
Here is a link is to the Webley Senior mentioned above.
https://timdysonairguns.co.uk/produc...ol-sn-pw-3113/
Brian
Politically Incorrect
Some years ago I bought a collection of mainly Webley items from the now defunct Cullens gun shop of lee On Solent, amongst which was a glass Webley oil bottle, the first publicly known about, along with a Webley flyer from 1946 announcing the introduction of these temporary glass oil bottles.
This one had a cork stopper, as did some of those subsequently discovered, but then several screw top bottles appeared, such as the one in Tim Dyson's boxed Senior.
I don't know how many of theses glass oil bottles have now come to light, but I would guess it's now just in double figures, but they are still an extremely scarce item, along with the earlier Webley Valvespout oil can.
Registered User
Hello David,
Have you ever seen or heard of a surviving example of the very earliest Webley oil can?
Brian
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