Product Details
JOHN RIGBY & CO.
A .275 RIGBY SPECIAL HIGH VELOCITY CARTRIDGE TAKE-DOWN BOLT-MAGAZINE SPORTING RIFLE, serial no. 1314,
for 1900, 25in. nitro barrel engraved 'JOHN RIGBY & CO. 43, SACKVILLE ST. LONDON. W.', and 'SIGHTED FOR RIGBY'S SPECIAL 275 BORE HIGH VELOCITY CARTRIDGES POINTED BULLET 140 GRAINS', block-mounted open sights with folding leaf sight, white metal inlaid sight lines and marked for 100 and 300 yards, block-mounted bead fore-sight, the receiver mounted with a John Rigby & Co. marked telescopic sight with brass fittings and engraved 'ALTAMONT. 1314. JOHN RIGBY & CO. 43 SACKVILLE ST. LOND' (partially obscured ) on quickly-detachable mounts, the receiver ring engraved 'WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER OBERNDORF A/N 1899', Mauser serial number 690 and with take-down retaining bolt, (barrel frozen), receiver with thumb cutout, detachable floorplate with military style release, detachable fore-end, figured semi-pistolgrip stock marked to the right with 'SLIGO' and 'A' surmounted by the coronet of a Marquess, sling eyes, 14 1/4in. pull including ribbed steel buttplate (with trap), weight 7lb. 7oz. (unscoped) and 8lb. 8oz. (with scope), in its full length canvas case with accessories and provision for telescopic sight in its leather tube case, both the case and scope tube marked 'SLIGO'
Provenance: We are kindly informed that the rifle was completed on the 17th August 1900 for 'Browne Esq'.
We have been kindly supplied with the following history of ownership of the rifle:
"The rifle was built for George Ulick Browne (1st September 1856 to 26th February 1935) 6th Marquess of Sligo and 4th Earl of Clanricarde and has remained within the family since, first being passed on to the Earl's son-in-law, Michael Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne, GCSI, GCIE, MC. (8th May 1895 to 23rd February 1939). Baron Brabourne served in the Royal Artillery during the Great War, during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 he was attached to No.3 Squadron, flying artillery spotting missions with the Royal Naval Air Service. Mentioned in dispatches on two occasions he was to receive the Military Cross for 'distinguished service in the Field during the operation at the Dardanelles'. After the war he served as an MP and succeeded to the title of Baron Brabourne in 1933, was made Governor of Bombay, Governor of Bengal in 1939 and also Acting Viceroy of India for four months in 1938.
The rifle was subsequently passed on to his son, John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, CBE. After serving with the Coldstream Guards during WWII, he went into television and film production, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture as producer of 'Romeo & Juliet' (1968) and 'A Passage to India' (1984). Other titles he is known for are 'Sink the Bismarck!', 'Murder on the Orient Express' and 'Death on the Nile'. He was also director and later chairman of Thames Television and Euston Films between 1978 and 1995 and was invested as a Fellow of the British Film Institute in 1979. In 1946 he was married to Patricia Mountbatten, elder daughter of Admiral of the Fleet, The Right Honourable The Earl of Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO,PC, FRS."
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Estimate £4,000-6,000
S1 - Sold as a Section 1 Firearm under the 1968 Firearms Act