I have recently purchased (November 2008) a collectible double rifle made by Holland & Holland (short double rifle model Royal Hammerless Ejector cal.500/465NE, serial number №28554) at the auction. The gun was manufactured in 1921 and it was a pair of them produced at the same time. I have purchased gun number 2. Guys Is it any chance you help me to locate number 1 rifle?

I'd think your best chance, which is small at that, is to contact H&H. They might forward an offer for you if they know where it is, which is probably unlikely. I'm not sure if they'll allow it, but if so, you can also post WTB "want to buy" posts on all the major US internet auction sites, which are Gunsamerica, Gunbroker, and Gunsinternational.

Russian,

There is a company out here that deals with finding mising guns from pairs or trios. It is their speciality and they do quite well at it although don't know how.

I Don;t know their exact details but sensd an email to Dig at vintage guns in my tag line and I'm sure he can pint you in the right direction.

I'm having dinner with him tonight so if I remember I'll mention it to him.

Any chance of some pictures of such a nice rifle?

Rgds,
FB

Thanks. How I can send the picture to you?

Hi Russian,
congrats on your sweet gun. I own a pair( only matched pair, no twins) of H&H`s 12/65 royal sidelock shotguns from about the same age. I would first contact Holland. When you mail them your numbers they will look for about 25 brit.pounds in their books and give you a copy of it. But don`t expect too much. Mine was just a half page of a hand written page. They show the specifications e.g. when and whom the gun was originally ordered, about the stock and other existing matching guns. That`s where you could start locating nr.2 - at least you will get the number of the other double. After it you can use the internet as mentioned in the posts before.Would be interesting which maharaja or other character ordered a pair of 465 in the roaring twenties, maybe you re lucky and they are real twins(following nr). If so that will make your search a little bit more expensive...The books only shows if the gun came back for inspection or in case of my guns for rebarreling. They have no tracks what happened to your gun outside their workshop or who owned it between in most cases. I wish you luck on this because to use a pair of funtional 465ne double from this era in todays africa would be extraordinary. Heard also about scouts from h&h, purdey and WR who traveled around mainly in India and Australia and eastern europe to buy them and maybe still do. Sometimes they re found at people who have no idea about the worth. But I´m afraid this time is over. I heard about a case where former Rothschild guest pairs were reunited for cheap(yes they had some pairs as guest guns, same in India). Best luck! Have only a single one isn`t bad

Russian,

I spoke to Dig about this and he is knows the guy that has that company to match up pairs of guns. It will be very difficult to find the twin but if you don't try you won't know.

He is aware of a H+H 500/465 coming up for sale, so the best bet is to go to his vintage guns website and send him an e-mail. Mention that it is what Kiri spoke to him about. You can click on the link in my sig line. He sometimes posts here as Smallbore, but I know he has been very busy recently.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions.

K