Details of Lot 160
BOSS & CO.
A HISTORIC 12-BORE SINGLE TRIGGER OVER AND UNDER EJECTOR GUN, NO. 5773, THE FACTORY PROTOTYPE GUN

28-inch sleeved barrels with 2 1/2-inch chambers about 1/2 and full choke borings, breech with short rib, the frame, locks and top lever with border and scroll engraving, the maker's name signed within a scrolling banner, patent single trigger and rolled edge trigger guard, 14 3/4-inch highly figured stock including leather covered recoil pad, 6lb. 10oz., nitro proof

The maker confirms that gun no. 5773 was the first over and under built and that it is the prototype gun and was completed in 1909. It incorporates the three key Robertson patents, namely the single trigger (patent no. 11278) of 1905, the revolutionary over and under action (patent no. 3307) of 1909, and the over and under ejector work (patent no. 3308) of 1909.

There are numerous detail differences between this example and the gun that achieved volume production, the two most significant being the lack of the small rib extension to the breech, as well as a differenct shape to the fore-end iron ejector housing.

As the prototype and demonstration gun, it would have been used extensively to show off and promote the revolutionary new design. To this day it is a design that has never been bettered and in the ultimate form of flattery, its key elements have been copied by gunmakers around the world.

Sold for £16000
Fine Modern and Vintage Sporting Guns
The Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland
22 August 2011
Commission is 25% ex. VAT. Artist's Resale Right may apply