Holts hosted event to mark shooting season

Holts Auctioneers hosted a very successful event at the House of Bruar to coincide with the start of the grouse shooting season.

Several interesting guns were put on display at the venue, just north of Pitlochry, that were much admired by the crowds and a great many guns were brought in for examination and valuation.

Centrestage at the drinks party on Saturday night were a pair of ultra rare triple-barrelled 20 bore Dickson round actions kindly brought along by an attendee.

Holts’ Scottish representative Ian Bonner even brought along the staggering total of over 60 guns and rifles that he had gathered on behalf of vendors to be entered for auction.

Among the noteworthy guns that Holts were asked to examine was a tiny little boy’s 28 bore round action gun by MacNaughton of Edinburgh. Being made for a boy it was diminutive in all respects but still of very high quality.

The anticipation of what will arrive next is always exciting and sure enough a gentleman appeared with a shopping bag stuffed full of swords, bayonets, etc, and gaping out of the top of the bag was the distinctive bell-shaped mouth of a blunderbuss, a lovely early example by Tomlinson of Dublin.

Predictably, several round action Dicksons appeared and undoubtedly the star example was a very pretty 20 bore made in 1920.

The team’s mouths dropped when they saw it as Dickson only made 39 20 bore round action guns in total and this one was a beauty. It had an interesting provenance too. The vendor’s grandfather had been a prisoner of the Japanese during WW2 and during his incarceration, his wife decided to buy a gun to supplement her meagre rations. She popped into Dickson’s shop in Edinburgh, just asked for a suitable gun to shoot rabbits and came away with this 20 bore knowing little about it. When her husband returned after the war he was full of trepidation as to what she had bought, but upon examining it, he quickly remarked, ‘Wonderful darling, you have bought a really good Dickson.’

The House of Bruar is an upmarket retail outlet set against the magnificent backdrop of the Scottish Highlands and Holts would like to thank them for helping to organise such a successful event.