by Certus » Fri Sep 30, 2016 6:42 pm
Hi Jeff,
I innocently thought that once I had good examples of all of the Webley models I would not need to carry on searching and chasing more classic air pistols.
WRONG ! Next came other early British spring air pistols, some contemporary with the Webley and some not.Finally, there remained four models that I coveted, but thought were out of the question due to their extreme rarity and consequent high prices. These four in order of rarity were:
Anson's Star.
Westley Richards Highest Possible 'Concentric' model.
A.G. Parker 'Crank Wound' pistol.
Cogswell & Harrison Certus.
Well, that would have been an end to it except I stumbled on a Star at my local gun dealer in good condition and for sale at a ridiculously low price.
Having snapped that up, I became obsessed with tracking down the other three pistols on the list. Eventually, I acquired the remaining pistols from various sources and unfortunately at more realistic prices, but this was at least offset by the bargain that started the whole thing off.
I have never bought any of my collection as an investment, but it's comforting to know that the likelihood is that they will probably appreciate in value rather than the reverse. An example of this is a boxed Tell 3 air pistol which was estimated at around £1,500 and recently sold at auction for a whopping £3,600 !
Regards
Brian