Art Market Magazine - Visit zone-secure.net
Art Market Magazine - Visit zone-secure.net
Art Market Magazine - Visit zone-secure.net
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
THE MAGAZINE AUCTION RESULTS<br />
€73,000<br />
Rifles and shotguns by Holland & Holland grabbed the<br />
limelight on 17 February at Louviers (Jean-Emmanuel<br />
Prunier auction house). This pair of shotguns, estimated<br />
at around €20,000, attracted the keen attention<br />
of numerous European hunters. Offered in good condition,<br />
they illustrated all the expertise of the worldfamous<br />
British gunsmith. A bastion of British chic, this<br />
company is to guns what Chanel is to fashion and Rolls<br />
Royce to cars. Harris John Holland, a tobacco dealer<br />
who loved clay pigeon shooting, founded it in 1835<br />
under William IV. Rapidly rivalling Purdey and<br />
Lancaster, he took on his nephew Henry William<br />
Holland as partner, and the business became Holland<br />
& Holland. At the end of the 19th century, the firm<br />
made inventive experiments with the H & H ejector<br />
gun, known as the Southgate system, which only<br />
needed two parts: a spring and the cock of the gun.<br />
Fifty-one patents were filed for this between 1851 and<br />
the mid-20th century, making Holland & Holland the<br />
finest of European hunting guns. The accredited<br />
supplier to the royal family, it specialised in high-end<br />
shotguns, highly sought after by seasoned hunters. For<br />
all these reasons, Holland & Holland is seen as a lifestyle<br />
associated with the British establishment. Its impeccably<br />
finished guns are genuine works of art, like the<br />
two here, which inspired a bidding war between the<br />
room and several telephone bidders. After a bitter<br />
tussle, they were borne off for largely triple their estimate<br />
- €73,000 - by a major French collector, who<br />
certainly gave them his best shot! Chantal Humbert