Johannesburg - Guns in Africa have a bad reputation, but the continent’s history as a territory for explorers, big game hunters and land-hungry imperialists means many of these weapons are attracting collectors and could sell on the international market for a high price.
Auction house Bonhams, headquartered in London, has appealed to South Africans to open their gun safes to allow valuers to assess their weapons.
This is before the company’s December sale which will take place at its Montpelier Street salerooms in London.
Coming on the market will be a fine and varied selection of best-quality British and European shotguns and rifles - including the best makers such as Holland & Holland, Purdey, Boss, Woodward, Lebeau-Courally, Francotte, Bosis and numerous others. A variety of accessories such as gun cases, cartridge-magazines, cartridge display boards and books are also included.
“The market in this specialist area remains buoyant and record prices have been achieved in recent years,” said Patrick Hawes, head of sporting guns at Bonhams.
He said it was often a weapon’s previous owners who added lustre to its provenance and price - followed by its quality, condition and rarity.
“For example anything previously owned by an Indian maharaja, the British royal family or well-known professional hunter will have an automatic supplement in perceived value and a few zeroes added to the price when sold.”
Guns with VIP status sold by Bonhams include: James Bond author Ian Fleming’s Colt Python .357 magnum revolver; the Holland & Holland owned by hunter-explorer Frederick Selous; and elephant hunter James Sutherland’s .577 “heavy” Westley Richards rifle which sold for R1.3m.
For South Africans, Sutherland has the most local interest.
He was born in Scotland and emigrated to Cape Town in 1896. He hunted in Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, the Belgian Congo and Malawi, and it is estimated that he shot a total of 1 200 bull elephants.
Sutherland is thought by many to be one of the most famous elephant hunters of his time, and his book, The Adventures of an Elephant Hunter, published in 1912, has come to be regarded as one of the best elephant hunting titles ever.
Sutherland makes numerous references in his book to his “heavy .577”.
“When using the double-barrelled rifles against big and dangerous game, it is of supreme importance to have a reliable ejecting mechanism. I find that a single trigger is a vast improvement on the old double trigger, for, apart from eliminating the risk of a bruised finger, the single trigger is indefinitely quicker, enabling a double shot to be placed almost simultaneously.”
The rifle was later owned by “Andy” Anderson, another professional hunter and friend of Sutherland.
Anderson served in the South African War and World War I, beginning his hunting career in 1903 in Nigeria.
His career saw him hunt in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire and the Congo, and he was one of the professional hunters who accompanied the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) on their safari in 1924.
Anderson was the author of African Safaris (1946), recording some of his adventures between 1907 and 1926, which included some stories about elephant hunting with Sutherland. He also helped to found the East African Hunters’ Association with a group of hunters in 1934.
Another good example of VIP guns is the pair of shotguns once owned by Colonel William Stirling, one of the founders of the modern SAS, which were estimated to sell for between R350 000 and R490 000 - but in fact sold for R84 000. They are described as a pair of 12-bore self-opening sidelock ejector guns by J Purdey & Sons built for Colonel Stirling.
For a valuation contact Hawes at [email protected].
The Star