Royal passion and a pair of Purdeys

Sotheby’s had enticed them and, shoulder to shoulder, they pressed into the saleroom, black ties and evening gowns shuffling towards an extraordinary pair of guns. On this night — 18 June 1991 — the exclusive Beau Rivage Hotel in Geneva, its chandeliers shimmering with anticipation, was the white-hot focus of the fine firearms universe.

“The atmosphere in the saleroom was electric,” remembers firearms expert and auctioneer Gavin Gardiner. “This was the pre-internet world and a time when relatively few people hid behind agents or telephones for their bidding. The room was packed with almost all the significant collectors from around the world.”