ELEY, TWO MINIATURE PAPER WRAPPERS, for the miniature cartridges built for King George V's miniat

ELEY, TWO MINIATURE PAPER WRAPPERS, for the miniature cartridges built for King George V's miniature pair of Purdey shotguns, 1/6 scale; together with the Eley factory manager's copy of the 1936 ammunition catalogue, with annotations in which they were found. For the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935, James Purdey & Sons presented His Majesty with a miniature pair of hammer ejector guns, nos. 25000 and 25001. Built to exactly 1/6 the size of the king's pair of 12-bore guns, the fully working miniatures were supplied with fully functioning ammunition. The cartridges were .47 inches long, .18 in diameter and loaded with 2.02grns of dust shot. It is said that the cartridges cost as much to produce as the guns themselves. Housed in miniature Eley boxes, these two paper outer wrappers were kept as samples of the very small number actually produced. The guns and a complete box of 25 cartridges are preserved in the Royal Gun Room at Sandringham. For further information, please refer to The Royal Gun Room at Sandringham, by David Baker.