Purdey London
 

Was in London earlier this week and popped into Purdey’s on S Audley Street. Haven’t been there for 20 or so years and a lot of things have changed. Primarily the prices. Least expensive gun is an O/U for £38,000 (had none on display) Least expensive gun on display was £60,000 (used) and most expensive £95,000 (new). Sales of O/U vs SxS is 50/50. Only sell fiber wad shells. Box of 25 Bismouth cost £35. Cost of a SxS restock £20,000. New barrel for existing gun £30,000. For those that are interested, £1=$1.31. I did leave with a new Purdey catalog (free) and a pheasant design scarf for my wife’s birthday £315. I hope she likes it.

SHHHH :whistle:

don't tell Brian and Chris that

Yep. £20,000

Richard Purdey used to send his worst case broken stocks - even with missing pieces - to David Trevallion for a strong invisible repair.





.

Wow, I've never even seen a "best" gun in person let alone handle one.. But always wondered if after handling one those prices would somehow seem justifiable to me. Makes the custom shotguns from CSMC look like bargains.

Exactly. They’re all CNC-made anyway. Buy the gun not the name.

I have a Parker DH that I'd like to have restocked. Do you think they'd want a little more if I were to spec a SSBP?

I always found the guys on Bruton Street to be more affable. Not quite so full of themselves. I made about 120 trips to UK between '85 and '99 and made the rounds pretty regularly. Billy Billimoria, at Holland was one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet, and was Old School Indian. When he was back from a heart attack, he told me he was waiting to sell a gun before he retired. He had a little double rook rifle, I bought it, and he was gone before I got back there a month later. To this day, I get a beautiful handmade Christmas card from him.

Not quite. I've been to the Purdey shop in Hammersmith, and can tell you without reservation that CSMC is not even in the same galaxy as Purdey when it comes to finish craftsmanship. Yes, the major bits are cut with CNC, etc. But it's the finish and style that makes a Purdey. And that name on a gun is nonpareil.

I also own a few Purdeys. Which I will stack up against anything from CSMC. Any day.

And just so you don't get mislead, I know the folks at CSMC and they have been very nice to me. This is NOT a knock against them.

I wasn’t comparing their quality or workmanship, just cost. The higher end CSMC guns are out of my league already, so a H&H or Purdey DEFINITLEY is.

The one time I visited London, my friend Max who is Indian was taking me around and I wanted to go see Purdey and H & H. At Purdey, Sir Richard Beaumont himself showed me a 28-gauge that they could finish up in my dimensions for 28000 pounds. Very polite to a visiting Yank that I'm sure he realized wasn't going to be buying a Purdey. I didn't remember the gentleman's name at H & H but he and Max realized they were of the same sect and I had the run of the place!

At the current exchange rate Dave that's close to $37k if my math is correct. A high grade Parker 28 or CSMC 28 would be real close.

I was visiting London over thirty years ago and as I recall with the VAT it would have been about $56000. The times I was in London for work, MOD kept us busy and we really didn't get to do any sightseeing.

VAT does not apply to items leaving the UK right away

Tom, the 38000 BP over under would probably be the trigger plate gun, a recent offering, not the original Harry Lawrence designed Purdey over under, which sells for much more. Holland and Holland equivalent is their "Sporter", which was introduced some years ago. We had one of the first H&H Sporters on the rack at a gun shop where I worked after I retired. I recall that we offered it for sale for about $15000. That H&H just could not be made to work right. I have no idea where it is today.

You guys are lucky! Looks like a interesting place to visit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cW1MXKGj70

Forty Four years ago I worked on North Audley Street several blocks away from Purdey's. I visited a number of times and was never invited to see the gun room. I really don't blame them as I certainly didn't have the means to purchase one of their guns. I did buy a cleaning kit for my father. Holland and Holland was another story all together. There were many guns on display and they didn't mind my stopping by to drool. Rigby's was on Pell Mell at the time and what I saw of it was small, but again guns on display. My father told me to buy one of their used rifles in .275. They told me it would make a nice "Lady's Gun" and I could have it for about 700 pounds. That translated to $1,659. I was making about $7,000 a year so that was out of the question. Besides my priorities at the time were girls and booze.

That will ruin a shooting man's Purdey budget every time!

I got to visit Purdey and Holland and Holland 3 years ago while visiting London. Actually it was one of the primary reasons I wanted to visit London. At Purdey I spoke with a young man in the gun room about duck hunting in rural England with his fathers Purdey and talked about hunting with the large bore shotguns. He was shocked that a strong following of 8 and 4 bores exist in the US and oddly was surprised I loaded my own 8s. I bought Donald Dallas book there headed over to H&H was stopped at the door by one of the salesman who jokingly told me he couldn’t allow me in the store with the Purdey bag and showed me around the store and some of the guns on display including a .577 double listed for £200,000 or something ridiculous like that. I bought donald dallas book there as well as a cartridge belt for my .458 lott. Both stores were a great experience and the staff was very polite to me who obviously couldn’t afford any gun in the store at the age of 27.

I have guns from H&H, Purdey and CSM. There is no comparison between the English "best" gun and the Fox (and mine is a FE 410) IMHO the fit and finish on the English guns is much better and no machine can duplicate the hand finishing of an English best gun. I'm no 12ga person and much prefer the small bores for my upland hunting but last year I bought a Purdey light game gun, a 6lb 12 with 28 inch barrels choked .004 & .008 and with RST 2 inch 3/4 oz loads it's wonderful on grouse, woodcock and quail.
I have a Parker upgrade AAHE 28ga with a second set of barrels (28 inches M/F) from James Purdey.

I got a 4 hour tour of the H&H factory by the factory manager. Had a chance to handle a SxSxS 20 gauge, and looked at a 4 gauge SxS that allegedly had $100,000 worth of engraving

Rich,

I'm up for adoption.

Harry

Rich, any hunting pics with that gun? I love a light 12 for grouse/woodcock, my PH 12 gauge 28” weighs just a bit over 7lbs, and is the lightest 12 gauge Parker I’ve personally handled.

On our way back from a South Africa safari, my wife and I visited Purdey's in London. The gentleman there was extremely polite and gave me the full run of the place. Gun room, records room etc. I did manage to purchase a number of items for myself and the gents that I regularly shoot with. Very interesting place. I did see their (at the time) most recent Damascus over under. Interesting pattern on the Damascus, looked like birds eyes. The O/U was on display in the middle of the room. I could not handle it as it had already been sold. Interesting O/U but a little too gaudy for my tastes.

Harry I'll add you to the list of potential siblings:rotf:

Kirk I really don't have much in the way of pics with the Purdey. What I have were with a cell phone and I have no idea (and I don't want to learn either:)) of how to get them on this thing. One of my hunting buddies takes the pictures at Morrison Pines so as he did the photography he has the pics and hasn't forwarded them.

It will go to camp for grouse season along with a recent adoption of a 16ga two barrel set.

Purdey London
 

A few years ago I was in London on business, staying at Grosvenor House. Stopped into Purdey around the corner and had a similar experience. It is magnificent. The gentleman manning the store was polite, if a bit curt. The cheapest gun on display was a used SXS for 50K pounds. I thought perhaps I would pickup a set of cufflinks for my father. They were 1500 pounds. At this point, I laughed recognizing that not only could I not afford the gun, I couldn't afford the cufflinks! At that, I departed. A couple days later, on the way to the airport, I was relating the story to the cabbie, who happened to be a gun guy. He said we had plenty of time to swing by H&H on the way, if I wanted to see it as well. H&H was beautiful, of course, and the gentleman manning the store polite and a bit more friendly. I asked if I could use the restroom (they don't have a public W/C) and he took me downstairs through the corporate boardroom to where it is located. The boardroom walls are endless display cases of historic H&H guns. After dropping me at the restroom, the gentleman departed and I had plenty of time to view the collection alone. Wonderful, memorable experience.

I've been to the H&H boardroom as well. The guns displayed there are superb artifacts of craftsmanship and history.

Yes, that is the boardroom. And they have a lovely loo as well. Haha

And since this IS a Purdey thread, just to be fair, here's a quick shot of Purdey's Long Room where I once had lunch with the GM just prior to Game Fair some years ago...