Product Details
HOLLIS, BENTLEY & PLAYFAIR 12-BORE BOXLOCK EJECTOR, serial no. 88037, circa 1910 , serial number on under rib only, 29 7/8in. nitro reproved barrels, the rib engraved 'HOLLIS, BENTLEY & PLAYFAIR. BIRMINGHAM & LONDON', 2 1/2in. chambers, bored approx. 1/4 choke in both, treble-grip action, automatic safety, border engraving, retaining some original colour-hardening and finish, 14 3/4in. stock, weight 6lb. 11oz., in a brass-cornered leather hammergun case with a Harrods Ltd. trade label, the lid outer marked 'E.A.C. LISTER'
Provenance: The following provenance was supplied when Holts sold this gun in a past auction:
This shotgun was supplied originally to the vendor's grandfather-in-law, Edmund Lister (1870 - 1936) who spent much of his career as a civil engineer in India. He then retired to Gloucestershire where he used the gun to good effect on many local shoots. On his death the gun passed to his son, Anthony Lister. The vendor has kindly supplied the following passage on his father-in-law.
"Lt-Col. Anthony Lister (1917 - 2002) was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1937, and as a subaltern went to France with the B.E.F. in 1939. At the time of the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, having specialist technical knowledge he stayed behind to lead a team blowing up radar and other sensitive equipment left behind by the allies, to avoid use by the enemy, and was captured. As a P.O.W. in Germany he organised the pilfering of electrical components from camp facilities or from the guards, from which he constructed clandestine radios to pick up the BBC news broadcasts and circulate news sheets round the camp. Following liberation in 1945 he continued in the army, married and moved to Winterbourne Gunner, Wiltshire, where game shooting was a regular feature with family members as beaters.
"Col. Lister was my father-in-law. Shortly before his death he gave the gun to me. I had it re-proofed and overhauled by J. Roberts & Son in 1991-2."
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Estimate £200-300
S2 - Sold as a Section 2 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act