Scarborough saleroom to auction 'very rare' 200-years-old gun from Bridlington antiquarian's collection

The gun is a muzzle-loading rifle fired by compressed air rather than gunpowder. George Wallis made the gun capable of firing multiple shots, a problem that had been challenging Europe’s finest gunsmiths for over a century.

It has been entered by the family of a private Bridlington area antiquarian who built up a massive collection of antiques, antiquities and collectables of local interest that became so large that at one time he opened a private museum.

David Duggleby Auctioneers in Scarborough will be auctioning the gun during their Militaria, Weapons & Sporting Guns Sale, which is set to take place on Friday, January 26.

Will Duggleby, Auctioneer said: “The matchlocks and flintlocks of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were pretty primitive – slow, noisy, inaccurate and prone to failure in wet weather.”

“Experiments had proved that it was possible for guns to be powered by compressed air rather than gunpowder. Not only could air guns be just as effective but they were also quicker to use, capable of multiple shots before the air ran out and immune to weather conditions.

“The air powered rifle in Friday’s auction was designed in the Hull workshop of George Wallis, one of the most renowned gunmakers in the country in the late 18th century.

“It is a striking-looking gun – a walnut stock with a 34 inch long rifled barrel but then with the unexpected addition of the round brass air reservoir.

“To use it the reservoir is removed and filled with compressed air using a hand pump before being re-attached ready for firing.

“It is a very, very rare gun, not least because just a few years after it was made a Scottish clergymen invented percussion ignition and that made other systems obsolete overnight.

“The Wilberforce House Museum in Hull has one of the air powered rifles that was part of Wallis’s own collection and Burton Constable Hall in East Yorkshire has another, made by Wallis for William Constable owner of the Hall in the late 18th century- but this is the first we’ve ever seen in one of our militaria auctions.”

Other historic highlights of Friday’s Militaria, Weapons & Sporting Guns Sale include a 1758 Brown Bess flintlock musket, an 18th century coaching carbine and a Japanese matchlock musket of the Edo period (1603-1868), all expected to make in the £500-£800 range, and a Winchester Model 1892 saddle carbine (estimate £1,000-£1,500).

The auction also includes a fine Browning 12 bore double barrel over and under sporting gun that is expected to go for £850-£1,000.

Viewing for the auction, and the Military Medals and Badges Sale that follows it later in the day, is taking place at the Vine Street Salerooms in Scarborough throughout this week. Viewing will also be open on the day of the sale (January 26) from 9am until the start of the auction at 11am.

The catalogues are available on the firm’s website (www.davidduggleby.com).