It is 2 September 2020 and Gavin Gardiner’s sale of Fine Modern & Vintage Sporting Guns. A toxic combination of COVID-19 and La Sturgeon has killed off his annual jaunt to Gleneagles Hotel and we’re ‘online only’. I’m in my study, Freya the dog gonking at my feet. I’ve done my research. I’m preregistered to bid.
Target for today is Lot 112, a William Evans 12-bore, boxlock ejector, with ‘maker’s replacement barrels’, circa 1980, and 2¾in chambers, making it not only steel shot ready but ‘modern’ enough to cope with heavier steel loads; something older guns may soon struggle with. The 15½in stock is a major draw. Most old guns have variants on 14in as they were fitted to our short-arsed ancestors. It is cheaper and easier to shorten a stock than lengthen it; that is, if I even need to with this gun, the estimate for which is a tantalising £500 to £700. However, I haven’t seen it and I won’t know until I do whether I’ll need to spend £300 plus on getting it altered to fit. That’s roughly 50% of the likely purchase price. However, if it sells for low estimate £500 (or less), plus premiums (auctioneer’s 25%, the internet’s 5% – all plus VAT), then it will cost me £650. Simple question: if I saw this gun with a £650 price ticket, would I buy it? Absolutely. Question answered.
Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin January 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin January 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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