Product Details
WILLIAM EVANS
A 12-BORE (CENTRAL VISION) BOXLOCK EJECTOR, serial no. 14146,
28in. nitro barrels, the rib engraved 'WILLIAM EVANS, 63, PALL MALL, ST. JAMES'S, LONDON.', 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. imp. cyl. and 1/4 choke, treble-grip action, carved lunate fences, automatic safety with inlaid 'SAFE' detail, border and partial scroll engraving, retaining traces of original colour-hardening and finish, 15in. figured stock (cast toward central vision, with evidence of removed cheekpiece), weight 6lb. 8oz.
Provenance: The makers have kindly informed us that this shotgun was completed with 28in. barrels in May 1926, the original owner's name is indistinct in the ledger.
This shotgun has passed by descent to the vendor who has kindly supplied us with the following information:
"GORDON FURZE, M.C., was born on 26 January 1888, the eighth and youngest child of the wine merchant Henry Furze and his wife Hannah (née Roberts).
Educated at Haileybury & ISC, Gordon was already 26 and working in the Bombay office of tea merchants James Finlay & Co., at the outbreak of WWl.
Returning to London, he joined the Coldstream Guards as a Lieutenant and appears to have served throughout the war in that rank, indicating perhaps a preference for service at the front (probably leading a platoon) to serving on the staff behind the lines. In any event, he was awarded the Military Cross and was twice mentioned in dispatches.
Being too old to serve in the armed forces during WWll - despite having signed up to the Artists' Rifles before the war - he remained a tea merchant in Bombay for the duration of the war, later retiring to Dorset.
Gordon Furze was a keen sportsman, enjoying hunting and shooting in India and England throughout his life. In England he hunted with the Cattistock and the Exmoor Staghounds. He and his wife Monica (née Marshall) passed on this passion for country sports to both their children and to their grand-children."
Other Notes: The Lot is accompanied by its walnut cheekpiece.
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Estimate £400-600
S2