Boxed Webley Premier E valuation please

[Abasmajor]

The beauty of Webley Premiers is there are lots of variations to collect - probably more than with any other Webley pistol. This finish is rarely seen and the pictures show a nice complete set. As Dutch says, the finish is hard to touch up but this one appears mostly intact, other than wear around the muzzle, which can be cleaned up. I tend to agree with the £170 - £180 price range but personally think it ought to be worth more.

John M

Hello John,

I've come across quite a few Premiers on my travels, but can't recall seeing any marked with a C or an F. Presumably these two variants are the rarest or is it just me.

Brian

[Josie & John]

Hello John,

I've come across quite a few Premiers on my travels, but can't recall seeing any marked with a C or an F. Presumably these two variants are the rarest or is it just me.

Brian

Hi Brian,

The C is probably the rarest coded Premier as they were only made for a few short months. One sold at Kempton in 2019, so they do come up occasionally. The F is by no means common and the same goes for the A Series, which in my view was the perfected Webley pistol as it had all the best features from the Senior and Mark 1. Theoretically there should be a 'pre A' uncoded 4 pin Premier but I have never seen one and some Webley experts suspect these were never made. I like to hold out hope that one may come along one day though.

John

[Abasmajor]

Hi Brian,

The C is probably the rarest coded Premier as they were only made for a few short months. One sold at Kempton in 2019, so they do come up occasionally. The F is by no means common and the same goes for the A Series, which in my view was the perfected Webley pistol as it had all the best features from the Senior and Mark 1. Theoretically there should be a 'pre A' uncoded 4 pin Premier but I have never seen one and some Webley experts suspect these were never made. I like to hold out hope that one may come along one day though.

John

Hi John,

I note that Protek recently sold quite a nice looking F coded Premier for £140, so at least I now know of one around for a brief time locally.

Brian

[WebleyWombler]

Hi Brian,

The C is probably the rarest coded Premier as they were only made for a few short months. One sold at Kempton in 2019, so they do come up occasionally. The F is by no means common and the same goes for the A Series, which in my view was the perfected Webley pistol as it had all the best features from the Senior and Mark 1. Theoretically there should be a 'pre A' uncoded 4 pin Premier but I have never seen one and some Webley experts suspect these were never made. I like to hold out hope that one may come along one day though.

John

I can show you an uncoded 4 pin Premier, but from the date and batch number, it's a 'B' . Reasonable original finish and no sign of it ever having a production code letter on it.

Date 12 5 , batch no. 1505 Inspectors mark 'E'

[Josie & John]

I can show you an uncoded 4 pin Premier, but from the date and batch number, it's a 'B' . Reasonable original finish and no sign of it ever having a production code letter on it.

Date 12 5 , batch no. 1505 Inspectors mark 'E'

Interesting. Do you know if the piston is from the Mark 1 and fitted with a leather washer as I'd expect to see this on a pre A Series pistol. That should tells us for sure.

Kind regards,

John

[WebleyWombler]

Interesting. Do you know if the piston is from the Mark 1 and fitted with a leather washer as I'd expect to see this on a pre A Series pistol. That should tells us for sure.

Kind regards,

John

Washer is 1 piece , looks like blue PTFE. holding screw is much smaller diameter that the one holding a leather washer to a Mk 1. Piston is about 1/2" longer than a Mk1.

Fit a Mk1 piston into it and the pistol won't cock, even with a long link senior barrel and a junior spring fitted.

[Josie & John]

Washer is 1 piece , looks like blue PTFE. holding screw is much smaller diameter that the one holding a leather washer to a Mk 1. Piston is about 1/2" longer than a Mk1.

Fit a Mk1 piston into it and the pistol won't cock, even with a long link senior barrel and a junior spring fitted.

That confirms it then - an unstamped B as you originally mentioned. It's the first unstamped B I've heard of though.

John M

[Abasmajor]

Another of those little anomalies that turn up every now and then to add to the fascination.

Brian