Product Details
JAMES WOODWARD & SONS
A 4-BORE SINGLE-BARRELLED ROTARY-UNDERLEVER HAMMERGUN, serial no. 4840,
42in. bold damascus barrel, top sighting flat engraved 'JAMES WOODWARD & SONS. 64 ST. JAMES'S ST. LONDON.', carved percussion fence with arcaded detailing, Jones patent rotary underlever, rebounding back-action lock, border engraving, retaining traces of original colour-hardening, 14 1/8in. figured pistolgrip stock with engraved steel pistolgrip-cap and including 7/8in. rubber recoil pad, chequering refreshed, fore-end with horn finial and grip-catch release lever, minor losses to edges of wood at knuckle, weight 14lb. 1oz.
Provenance: The makers have kindly confirmed that the gun was completed in December 1893 for Ralph Sneyd, with a 42" barrel.
Colonel Ralph Sneyd (1863 - 1949) was the last of the Sneyd family to reside at Keele Hall, now the location of Keele University.
The estate was originally given to the Knights Templars by King Henry II in 1170, but reverted to the Crown upon the dissolution of the Order in the early 14th Century. The Sneyd family, successful drapers and merchants from Chester, bought the estate from the Crown in 1540, moved onto the estate in 1544 and the first Keele Hall was built in 1580.
In 1890, the estate fell to Ralph Sneyd. 'Sporting Ralph' was a keen sportsman, yachtsman, serial husband (3 times, with an expensive divorce shortly afterwards), horse breeder and racer. Outside of sporting pursuits though, his interests were less concerned with the Hall or the family businesses and by his death in 1949 most of the family wealth was lost and its property sold.
Whilst serving as a Colonel in the Staffordshire Yeomanry, some sources have Sneyd linked to the arrest of the notorious Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan Margaretha Zelle, better known by her stage name 'Mata Hari' during the Great War.
Hari was accused of spying for the Germans and that the repercussions of secrets revealed by her caused the deaths of at least 50,000 men. In a somewhat controversial closed trial she was found guilty and executed by firing squad on the 15th October 1917. Hari was exculpated by Germany in 1930 and later research would indicate her to be more likely the victim of her own naiveté and the manipulation of various security and political agencies than a genuinely effective espionage agent.
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Estimate £4,000-6,000
(USD 5,183-7,774)
(EUR 4,439-6,658)
Currency exchange rates are based on various public sources, are provided for information purposes only, and are not verified as accurate.
Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the 1968 Firearms Act, to be held as a curiosity or ornament