W.J. Jeffrey 7mm Dbl Barrel Value - Part II
I was able to get updated photos for the rifle and they can be seen here http://s1297.photobucket.com/user/janix2010/library/?view=recent&page=1.
@ Hawk Carse - you probably aren't too far off the mark as my friend did all the paperwork bringing this back from the Middle East. There is one spot with Arabic engraving and I am getting someone else to translate that. Will post when I have it. I will also check out the nitro express post.
@ Hawk Carse - you probably aren't too far off the mark as my friend did all the paperwork bringing this back from the Middle East. There is one spot with Arabic engraving and I am getting someone else to translate that. Will post when I have it. I will also check out the nitro express post.
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Not as old as we might have thought. Jeffrey moved to the Bury St. location in 1914, left it in 1927. Have to think that the sultan was a traditionalist to order a hammer gun by then.
J. Roberts now owns the brand and may have records of the period. It would be worth contacting them with the serial number and some pictures.
http://www.jroberts-gunmakers.co.uk/contact.php
I don't know if that will get the owner closer to a dollar value, but it is interesting to dig into the background.
Wow, a Persian prince. This is getting good, he really does need to see if Roberts has the order book from a hundred years ago.
Can you show a picture of the breech end of the barrels? Shooting rimless cartridges like 7mm Mauser in a double rifle requires a special extractor and I would like to see how they went about it.
Thanks, that is the usual form of a rimless extractor in a break action rifle. The little spring loaded chisel points snap into the extractor groove and pull the empties. I thing Westley Richards was first with the type.0 -
My Arabic translator says that this is not Arabic but Persian/Farsi. Some letters are the same between the languages so to the best of his ability he believes it reads...
Gholam ridha khan (name)
The Prince of the Lands0 -
Hawk Carse - the photo you requested has been added. 0 -
Response from JRoberts Gunmakers...
"Thank you for your email. Whilst we are the UK agents for W J Jeffery, I'm afraid that we do not hold the records. These are held by Charles Williams, who can be contacted by email at charleswilliams1426@gmail.com."
I have forwarded my inquiry to Charles Williams.0 -
Here is the response from UK.
Thank you for your enquiry. We have limited information in the W.J.Jeffery register but please find below the information I have been able to extract.
W.J.Jeffery Serial Number 28655
.275 Rimless
Top Lever
Back Action
Low Hammers
Barrels - 24 inch Steel Dolls Head
Sliding Top Bolt
Flat raised rib
Standard and 4 sprung leaves to 500 yards
Percuss fences
Platinum bead front sight
Engraved and gold inlay
Anson fore-part
Straight grip
Gunmaker - H.Leonard
Date of manufacture - 31st January, 1923
Cost to manufacture ?67-0-0d (sixty seven pounds sterling)
About 60% of this cost was spent on the engraving)
It appears to be a very nice rifle.
I hope this information is of some value to you.
Yours sincerely,
Charles Williams
W.J.Jeffery & Co. Ltd.
1426 Rembrandt Road
Boulder, CO 80302, USA
Tel: +303-447-1195
Mob: +281-685- 42210 -
Interesting. I wonder if it is a 7mm Mauser clone as introduce by John Rigby in 1907 or the 275 H&H rimless.
http://shop.pacifictoolandgauge.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3406
http://shop.pacifictoolandgauge.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=34060 -
Good news that you have a real 1923 Jeffrey, a hammer gun built "out of period." Interesting that the cost to them was 67 pounds and that the majority was for the elaborate oriental engraving. Wonder what the selling price was.
Too bad they could not identify the Prince or his dealer.
A fascinating gun, but I don't think that tells us what the current dollar value is.
Charlie, proof marks for 31 grains of Cordite and a 173 grain bullet indicate it is a regular 7mm Mauser/.275 Rigby. Also, I don't see any sign of a belt relief in the picture of the extractors.0 -
Hmmm. After typing for 15 minutes, my tablet froze: here's the encapsulated version of what I think. Gholamreza (one word meaning roughly 'Slave of God", " servant of God') Khan is VERY LIKELY the son of Reza Shah, the founder of the Pahlavi throne. He is still alive at 91, and living in exile in Paris. Interesting to note he was born the same year your gun was produced. Willing to make the leap of faith that Reza ordered that gun for his newborn son. Bet the Khan family ( the name for the royal family, or Shahs) had a live account with H&H, Jeffrey, Purdey and other English fine armsmakers. Not terribly good research on my part, but that series of names and the Gods servant thing and the extraordinary engraving lead me to feel pretty strongly there would not have been another royal Prince of Persia that would have laid claim to such an extraordinary firearm; as I understand it, being a lower level courtier or royal, you would have been pushing it hard showing up to an Ibex hunt with a better gun than one of the Khanate royals. Probably a poor life choice! Who knows, maybe the old fart wants his birthday gun back?! I'm sure he still has SOME kinda ducats rolling around loose! As the Pahlavi's had to leave Iran (pains me to use that word; its PERSIA dammit. Not Iran like Hitler and the Grand Mufti wanted in honor of the Arryan race) in a hurry, perhaps he was parted from that gun unwillingly? Anyway, best I can offer up by way of explanation/conjecture. Good luck; hope this theory of mine turns out to be true!!!
EDIT #1: have you had the chance to do any further research on this? Inquiring minds want to know, and my receiving e-mail acct is knackered!0 -
1KYDSTR - Just came back to the site as my buddy wanted some of the notes again. Saw your request for updated info. Sorry as of this time we have nothing new on this rifle. 0 -
WOW 0 -
Geez, ps, there are all manner of fancy guns around that Oriental Potentates sold off when their little principalities went "democratic." I really doubt Interpol is scouring the world to get them back on claims that revolutionaries stole them. 0
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