Are there Establishments/Museums that Collect Airguns out there......

[JustinThyme]

Evening Gents
Are there any UK Establishments/Museums out there that collect and preserve the classics and rarities on this side of the pond or do the majority of collections get auctioned off and disappear overseas.

[Geezer]

I strongly doubt it. Places like the IWM, Royal Armouries or the SASC in Warminster are into military things, not airguns.

I think most private collections are either auctioned or sold privately, but most of what is sold stays in the U.K.

Given the number of UK collectors I see buying from Germany, we may actually be a net importer of vintage and collectible airguns.

[Binners]

I know of one establishment that preserves old air rifles.
Some jolly nice plump chap in Surrey....

[Garvin]

I know of one establishment that preserves old air rifles.
Some jolly nice plump chap in Surrey....

I believe John McCrossen's Webley collection ended up in a museum. Not many collections are good enough, frankly, and not many families of collectors can afford to/are willing to forgo the value of the guns when bereaved, which is often necessary to guarantee the guns stay together...

[Unframed Dave]

The Royal armoury in Leeds does have a display of airguns. It's not a major part of the museum but it's there I'll see if I can find a snap.

Dave

[WebleyWombler]

I believe John McCrossen's Webley collection ended up in a museum. Not many collections are good enough, frankly, and not many families of collectors can afford to/are willing to forgo the value of the guns when bereaved, which is often necessary to guarantee the guns stay together...

Nothing guarantees that collections will stay together. Many museums sell donated items to raise funds and in this politically correct society we live in , guns are the first to be got rid of. Manchester had one of the greatest collection of arms and armour in the country but most of it was sold off in the 1970's when the local authority wanted to wash it's hands of it. A few items were put in storage in case they were ever needed but have not been heard of or seen in public since. arms with a local or famous connection may be kept, the rest are funds to support everything else.

a good example is War medals. museums get donated so many that they cannot afford the storage or display case space. They will keep a representative sample and anything special will be retained. The others will be quietly sent to auction . I know of several cases of people finding medals up for sale when they had previously been donated to an institution for posterity.

[Garvin]

Nothing guarantees that collections will stay together. Many museums sell donated items to raise funds and in this politically correct society we live in , guns are the first to be got rid of. Manchester had one of the greatest collection of arms and armour in the country but most of it was sold off in the 1970's when the local authority wanted to wash it's hands of it. A few items were put in storage in case they were ever needed but have not been heard of or seen in public since. arms with a local or famous connection may be kept, the rest are funds to support everything else.

a good example is War medals. museums get donated so many that they cannot afford the storage or display case space. They will keep a representative sample and anything special will be retained. The others will be quietly sent to auction . I know of several cases of people finding medals up for sale when they had previously been donated to an institution for posterity.

Yes, well maybe not in the long term. As you suggest, nothing will guarantee that.

[Geezer]

The Royal armoury in Leeds does have a display of airguns. It's not a major part of the museum but it's there I'll see if I can find a snap.

Dave

Yes, but they have already have some very rare and important military weapons buried in the vault and not (never) on show. The airguns would end up crated up in there.

They seem much more interested in putting on medieval shows for kids than anything else.

Which makes economic sense, now that all museums (pre-COVID) moved from being academic centres of study to kids’ entertainment.

Of course, that’s sad.

[Troubledshooter]

John McCrossen's collection, or a goodly part of it, went to the Birmingham Proof House Museum, who already had a good selection of different guns on display, but space is limited and quite a lot of their collections are in storage. Access is somewhat limited at present and the current custodians seem reluctant to arrange visits to the museum.

[Unframed Dave]

Leeds Royal Armoury 2016:

https://imgur.com/a/7pgb3bj

Whether it's still there or not, I don't know.


Dave

[Shed tuner]

Leeds Royal Armoury 2016:

https://imgur.com/a/7pgb3bj

Whether it's still there or not, I don't know.


Dave

that's cool - at least they tried. Not quite the imperial war museum (which is great for anyone who hasn't been BTW), but I've never seen any airguns there...

[Lawrie Amatruda]

Many years ago there was a display of antique airguns in the Tower of London, I don’t know if they are still there.
Cheers, Lawrie.

[Binners]

I know where a few will be on display this Sunday

[ccdjg]

The Royal Armouries in Leeds does have a limited number on display, but I found it OK but rather underwhelming (about 5 years ago).

Their archives are potentially more interesting, but very few of the air guns they list are photographed and you only have brief descriptions to go on. To make matters worse, the descriptions and names have several errors.

https://collections.royalarmouries.o...sort=relevance

I looked through the air pistol archives and then contacted the curator pointing out some of the errors and offering to help correct their files. His secretary acknowledged my email and said that the curator would contact me within 6 weeks. Four years later, I am still waiting, and the errors are still there.

Kind of disillusioned me about archivists and their dedication to preserving historical accuracy!

[harvey_s]

I think theres one or two on here that could start museums by themselves .