Didn't Remember to Bid
 

I realized yesterday that I left on vacation the first of the month with the intent of going to an auction preview near my house and looking at some items I wanted to place bids on in an online auction scheduled for the middle of the month. My daughter alerted me to the preview date, and we completely forgot about it on our return. This was an estate auction for a very elderly lady who had passed away. The interesting thing was that she was the great granddaughter of Adolphus Busch and Lilly Anheuser, of the St. Louis brewing company Anheuser Busch. The home where the auction was being held was the only house on a huge lot within a subdivision on the edge of the old historic horse farm district. It is my understanding that the area around the house at one time was a racing farm. Many of the old farms ended up this way after the demand for building space grew.

The auction catalog was full of Inuit carvings, very high end antique furniture, Tiffany silver, bronzes by famous sculpters and many art and collectable pieces connected to the racing enterprise. There were also a lot of sporting collectables.

One piece that intrigued me was the following, since shipping costs would have been high and a local sale may have been advantageous under that condition.

The case was made by Joseph Manton and appeared to be in extremely good shape. I happen to have a nice Manton percussion 14 gauge (converted from flintlock) which would, I believe, would fit in the case with the removal of one short divider. If not, it would have made a great presentation set for a high end double with a new trade label. Anyway, I looked at the results and the case sold for $650 dollars which I think was a very good price given condition. The Tiffany, furniture, sculptures and carvings brought incredibly high prices.

I tried contacting the auction company to see if they knew anyting about what was stored in the case. They, as expected, would not provide any information. I suspect that I would have been interested in a Manton double that would have been displayed in this style of case and had a provenance from the Anheuser and Busch families. I don't reallistically believe just a case would be displayed so I suspect that it was either claimed by a family member of routed to a more prominent gun auction. Either scenario begs the question of why the makers case was left.

That looks very familiar. I remember that on ebay. That was a sweet setup!!

If you have ANY fitting issues with this case, GET in touch with me. I live in Wisconsin and would love to work on that case! :) :)

I have no idea who purchased the case. It was listed by a local realty auction company here in Lexington in December and scheduled and sold in an online auction about Jan 14. If it was on eBay it would have been in the last week or so and listed by the new owner.

The case was made for Joseph Manton, not by Joseph Manton. It is a London case, manufactured circa 1840 to 1905. Made for Joseph Manton, and other makes sold in England, but not necessarily manufactured in England. The bronze disc is similar to all. Here’s a Smith & Wesson pistol in a similar case that letters to Chas Osbourne & Son, Birmingham, in 1905.