Product Details
** CHURCHILL (GUNMAKERS) LTD.
A FINE AND EXCEPTIONALLY RARE 12-BORE (3IN.) 'ZENITH' BOLTING-SIDELEVER DOUBLE-TRIGGER OVER AND UNDER TRIGGERPLATE-ACTION EJECTOR, serial no. 7538,
28in. nitro barrels with matt top-rib engraved 'CHURCHILL (GUNMAKERS) LTD. 7. BURY STREET, ST JAMES'S, LONDON, ENGLAND.', the shoulders and breech end engraved with foliate scroll, 3in. chambers, bored approx. imp. cyl. and 1/2 choke, action with ornate scrolling bolsters, sidelever breech locking mechanism, automatic safety with gold-inlaid 'SAFE' detail, double rolled-edge triggerguard, border and acanthus scroll engraving set against a matt background, the underside engraved 'CHURCHILL ZENITH', retaining some original colour-hardening and finish, 14 3/4in. figured stock with carved foliate flutes at the head continuing the form of the scrolling action bolsters, fancy chequering, the stock with gold escutcheon engraved 'MBL', weight 8lb. 2oz., in its makers tan leather case
Provenance: According to workshop record books, 5 serial numbers were allocated to Zenith over and under guns, only one of which was finished during Robert Churchill's lifetime, gun no. 7030 ordered by Abbas Bey on 10th Feb. 1950.
This gun, serial no. 7538 is recorded as being ordered by Harum Bey (a relative of Abbas Bey), but the order was subsequently cancelled and the gun was still sat unfinished in the workshop in 1958. The gun was stocked in the late 1960's by Bill Holland.
In August 1973 Mills B. Lane, President of Citizens & Southern National Bank in Atlanta Georgia, visited Churchill's and declared his wish to buy the gun. It was sold for £3,750 and was fitted into a single oak and leather case for £100. It was dispatched to Mills B. Lane in January 1974.
Serial numbers 7441 / 2 were allocated to barrels only and in his book 'The House of Churchill', Don Masters indicates that these were still 'among the material stock and work in progress he purchased in 1981 when Churchill's ceased trading'. He also states that at the time of writing the book, serial number 7921 was still unfinished.
On this basis, the indication is that just two finished examples of Zenith guns are in existence.
A full history of the Zenith model, and more detailed information on this gun can be found in 'The House of Churchill' by Don Masters, pages 223 to 245.
Literature: 'The House of Churchill' by Don Masters
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Estimate £50,000-70,000
S2 - Sold as a Section 2 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act