Hidden gems (1). The Bedford & Walker Eureka

[ccdjg]

Airguns may not always be what they seem, and on occasion they may be an exceptionally rare gun masquerading as something that is not quite so rare. Then there are those airguns that have a feature that makes them specially rare, where the feature often goes unnoticed. I have come across a few pistols that fall into these categories during my collecting years, and I thought I would share these on the forum, in the hope that this might encourage others to take a closer look at their collections so that more examples might be brought to the surface.


The Bedford & Walker Eureka pistol (or to be more precise, its later version) is a good example. Here are my two pistols that look identical, but only the upper one is a genuine American-made Eureka, dating to the late 1800’s.




I owned both of these pistols for quite a few years before I realised they were not the same, and that happened when I found that their components were not interchangeable. I then found that the impostor had a solid brass body concealed beneath its heavy nickel plating. The real Bedford & Walker pistol of course had the normal cast steel construction.

The cosmetic similarities between the two pistols are remarkable, even as far as the grip shape, the square spanner hole in the rear cylinder plug, and the hole in the grip for accommodating a wire stock.





I eventually found that the lower pistol was actually a French copy of the Eureka, made by C.Martinier-Collin of St., Etienne around the same time. This is an 1884 catalogue showing the pistol. The pistol was made up into the 1890's:





These French copies are extremely rare in comparison with the Bedford & Walker Eureka, which itself is quite a rare pistol. I know of only three other examples of the copy at present, although there maybe be others sitting in collections, their true identity going unrealised.

So how do you tell the difference between them, without having to take them apart and checking, threads, dimension etc.? You may have spotted that the position of the rear sight is different in my two pistols, but this is not a reliable diagnostic, as genuine Bedford & Eureka pistols are known with rear sights both in the forward and the rear positions. In fact, the simplest, non-invasive test is to use a magnet, as the French copy will not attract the magnet due to its brass construction. It is best to do this on the grip, as if carried out on the cylinder, the underlying steel piston will give a false result.

A second means of identification is to look for the minute lettering impressed on the barrel of the genuine Eureka, which shows the patent details. There is no lettering on the Martinier-Collin copy.




I would be delighted to hear from anyone who finds out that he owns one of these very rare Eureka copies.

[Garvin]

Fantastic! It must have been an amazing feeling to see the French advert and realise it was the pistol you had.

Also, has anyone also got the rare FLZ no.7 pistol, assuming all along that it was an MGR?

[ccdjg]

Fantastic! It must have been an amazing feeling to see the French advert and realise it was the pistol you had.

Also, has anyone also got the rare FLZ no.7 pistol, assuming all along that it was an MGR?

That's a great example Danny. Beeman's example is still the only one I know of personally.

[Buck25]

Reading the 1st Edition of "The Encyclopedia of Spring Air Pistols" I tried to familiarize myself with my favorites those being the 19th century air pistols. In September 2016 this knowledge came in quite handy when I noticed a Bedford & Walker with a brass cylinder guide plug. It too had the rear sight in the rear position and it was devoid of any markings except for a serial number stamped on the bottom of the frame. I knew I had to have the pistol and after about a week of dickering back and forth, I got it for about 65% of his original asking price. Of course the icing on the cake was an original wire stock and dart puller.

[ccdjg]

That was a superb find Bruce, and the two accessories that fit perfectly those depicted in the 1884 line drawings were the icing on the cake.
Cheers,
John

[Buck25]

That was a superb find Bruce, and the two accessories that fit perfectly those depicted in the 1884 line drawings were the icing on the cake.
Cheers,
John

Thanks John, very much appreciated. Any accessories are always a benefit and often they can be as rare as the air pistol themselves. I forgot to state that I am looking forward to the next post in the "Hidden Gems" series.

[ptdunk]

Very interesting stuff.

Thanks,
Matt

[micky2]

Yes another school day, something else to look out for, and try and remember. checked mine and no French ones.

[rapidresponse1]

what a fantastic find

[Buck25]

These French copies are extremely rare in comparison with the Bedford & Walker Eureka, which itself is quite a rare pistol. I know of only three other examples of the copy at present, although there maybe be others sitting in collections, their true identity going unrealised.

Is it possible that another example has been out there right in front of us. I was visiting the vintageairguns.co.uk picture gallery and came across a photo labelled boxed Pope. As you can see in the photo there is a Bedford & Walker Eureka with a Pope pistol. The pistols are accompanied by a hinged case along with a shoulder stock and dart puller.

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I decided to recreate the photo with my own Martinier-Collin cased set which I acquired in 2016. The case, shoulder stock and dart puller are identical though the conditions do vary a bit. Based on a comparison, I believe that we do have another example of this intriguing French piece which is also cased.

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[ccdjg]

Is it possible that another example has been out there right in front of us. I was visiting the vintageairguns.co.uk picture gallery and came across a photo labelled boxed Pope. As you can see in the photo there is a Bedford & Walker Eureka with a Pope pistol. The pistols are accompanied by a hinged case along with a shoulder stock and dart puller.

Very well spotted Bruce. Everything matches perfectly, so we can pretty sure that we now have another example of the French Eureka copy. Even so, I would love to be able to ask the owner to run a magnet over it.

It is a pity that these copies were not serial numbered, to give us a rough indication of how many were made.

John

[Garvin]

I'm confused by the above. Has Bruce Jr spotted one ore two more French copies?

[ccdjg]

I'm confused by the above. Has Bruce Jr spotted one ore two more French copies?

Picture 1 is from the vintageairguns.co.uk website, of unknown origin, whereas picture 2 shows Bruce's cased example, with a Pope, set up to show the similarities between the two. Picture 3 shows the interior of Bruce's case, with the added Pope. So basically Bruce has spotted one new example.

[Garvin]

Picture 1 is from the vintageairguns.co.uk website, of unknown origin, whereas picture 2 shows Bruce's cased example, with a Pope, set up to show the similarities between the two. Picture 3 shows the interior of Bruce's case, with the added Pope. So basically Bruce has spotted one new example.

Thanks John. Sorry to be thick about this but are both the vintageairgun.co.uk and Bruce's one French copies, plus your own one?

[ccdjg]

Thanks John. Sorry to be thick about this but are both the vintageairgun.co.uk and Bruce's one French copies, plus your own one?

No problems Danny. Previously there was my own example, then Bruce's example, and a third example which I had known about for some time, and now the example Bruce has spotted at vintageairgun.co.uk , brings the total up to four.

Cheers, John