Rare storage case triples price of 1952 air-pistol

The estimate for the rare .177 barrel-cocking air-pistol, model ‘Senior’ circa 1952 by Webley & Scott, was £400-600 and the hammer price exceeded everyone’s expectations.

“Incredibly few cases were sold”

“To understand this price a little more one has to look deeper into the product itself,” explained Holt’s Auctioneers’ Chris Beaumont, adding: “Very few people found they could justify the storage case for one of these pistols, after all, the case cost as much as the pistol itself. Why pay double for an already quite expensive gun when the manufacturer’s cardboard box or even nothing at all was just as suitable. As a consequence, incredibly few cases were sold, some collectors claiming a ratio of less than one case to every thousand pistols. This, coupled with the fact that this particular case happened to be the rarest case type ever issued by Webley, and one is closer to understanding why dyed in the wool collectors are prepared to pay huge sums of money for something they may only have one opportunity in their life to purchase.”

Maybe it’s time to hunt down any old packaging you may have?