A bargain?

[ccdjg]

This crank-wound air pistol sold today at auction (Mander Auctioneers) with a hammer price of £980. It was the only air gun in the sale and was wrongly described in the title as “A 19th century French Flobert target air pistol”. Perhaps that was why there seemed to be few bidders.


Someone got a bargain – but not me unfortunately!

Or is the general opinion that this was all it was worth?

[ptdunk]

I think someone got a very good deal


Unfortunately wasn’t me,
Matt

[rapidresponse1]

very good deal

[micky2]

Hi John, it was not me ether, but with the fees it was just over £1300 which l think it was about it's money, not sure if the case was original? but it looked nice.

[Garvin]

As Mick says, with fees it doesn't sound like quite such a bargain, although still a damn good price. Once airguns pass about the £1k mark, the number of potential buyers seems to drop off rather sharply. Maybe it's more a psychological thing rather than a reflection of true value?

[ptdunk]

I don’t believe these were offered in original gun cases, the Oscar Will catalogues only featured rifle cases and it looks identical to the pistols he sold.
With the original crank handle, fancy engraving and original condition I assumed it would make more than that, seems only a couple of people were bidding on it at the end. Might have made more in a higher profile auction like Holts…who knows.

Cheers,
Matt

[Mobiasstrip]

I watched it sell and thought someone got a bargain. If £1300 can ever be described as a bargain. Interesting to see it if was bought to sell on at a profit or to keep.

[Garvin]

I watched it sell and thought someone got a bargain. If £1300 can ever be described as a bargain. Interesting to see it if was bought to sell on at a profit or to keep.

It's a particularly beautiful engraved version too. Must be worth £2,000 plus!

[PaulK62]

Very nice. I'm guessing it's a Julius Will Venuswaffenwerk Kurbelspanner. I used to own one. In fact, long before I parted with it, a photo I took circulated among collectors and ended up on page 400 of the 2nd edition of your amazing book, John (top right, with the repaired grip).

[ccdjg]

Very nice. I'm guessing it's a Julius Will Venuswaffenwerk Kurbelspanner. I used to own one. In fact, long before I parted with it, a photo I took circulated among collectors and ended up on page 400 of the 2nd edition of your amazing book, John (top right, with the repaired grip).

That is very interesting Paul, as I assumed, in the absence of any further data, that it was an Oscar Will pistol. Did it have any markings to suggest it was by Julius Will? These are much rarer.

[PaulK62]

That is very interesting Paul, as I assumed, in the absence of any further data, that it was an Oscar Will pistol. Did it have any markings to suggest it was by Julius Will? These are much rarer.

As a matter of fact, it did. Mine had a stamp on the bottom of the barrel, the section that tips up for loading and is difficult to see underneath. At first glance, I thought it looked like the Smith and Wesson logo. But after I heard about Julius Will, I realized it was a very fancy 'J' that almost looked like an 'S' superimposed on a 'W'. I wish I had a photo. Do you have any record of a stamping like that?

Edit: Oops. Of course you have -- on page 398 of your book.

[ptdunk]

As a matter of fact, it did. Mine had a stamp on the bottom of the barrel, the section that tips up for loading and is difficult to see underneath. At first glance, I thought it looked like the Smith and Wesson logo. But after I heard about Julius Will, I realized it was a very fancy 'J' that almost looked like an 'S' superimposed on a 'W'. I wish I had a photo. Do you have any record of a stamping like that?

Here’s one, it was on a crank wound rifle, same model as featured in the Oscar Will catalogue:

[IMG][/IMG]

Cheers,
Matt

[PaulK62]

That's it, Matt! I got the JW Kurbelspanner from the same person who also found its larger twin, Bugelspanner serial number 1. Like the pistol, the rifle is nickle plated w/engraving and silver inlayed barrel. For some reason, when I try to post images using imgur.com like you did, they won't display. Here are the direct links. Once I figure out what's going wrong, I'll post them properly.





Argh. I just corrected my mistake. In my haste, I typed "Julian" instead of "Julius."

[ccdjg]

That's great. I love it when bits of historical information like this come together to make a story.

[ptdunk]

That's it, Matt! I got the JW Kurbelspanner from the same person who also found its larger twin, Bugelspanner serial number 1. Like the pistol, the rifle is nickle plated w/engraving and silver inlayed barrel. For some reason, when I try to post images using imgur.com like you did, they won't display. Here are the direct links. Once I figure out what's going wrong, I'll post them properly.

https://imgur.com/a/XJD3irO

https://imgur.com/a/aSVgci8

That engraving is beautiful.

On imgur ‘get share links’ copy link and on here click the photo icon and paste the link in there, should work.

We have a theory that Oscar Will outsourced some of his guns to local makers when demand was too high, and his brother sometimes made guns to fulfill Oscar’s orders.
Some of the Julius Will guns are identical to O.Will catalogue guns and have only hidden JW marks.

Just an idea.

Cheers,
Matt