Other Rare production airguns?

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The Lewis and Clark Commemorative FWB 124 has a silver plated receiver with an etched scene of Sacajawea pointing the way for Lewis and Clark superimposed on a map. It also has the checkered Custom Shop walnut stock. I frequently wonder if Beeman came up with the idea while researching the Girardoni gun, which Lewis and Clark are said to have carried on their expedition.
 
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Ok here is a rare Diana M48SL....no don't have no more unfortunately...
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DualMagMike said:
I started a thread about all Jnc's a while back and got very limited response. Seems there might be a few hundred at most and "might be" a lot less than that. At one time the Blue mentions that just 25 were produced but that has been easily disproven.
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If I didn’t give this info to you here is my JNC stamped 124

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Wadcutter said:
The Lewis and Clark Commemorative FWB 124 has a silver plated receiver with an etched scene of Sacajawea pointing the way for Lewis and Clark superimposed on a map. It also has the checkered Custom Shop walnut stock. I frequently wonder if Beeman came up with the idea while researching the Girardoni gun, which Lewis and Clark are said to have carried on their expedition.
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with another misprint showing the direction of east and west reversed in the etching!
 
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Wadcutter said:
The Jnc stamp spans approximately between serials 12531 and 20XXX. Still gathering data, so it could actually run into the 21000 range. By 21552, the misstamp had been corrected. The question that still remains is: how many of those 7500–8500 FWB 12X units did Beeman import?
Concerning the only 25 produced, I've not noted a serial in that range without a Beeman stamp. It makes more sense that he would have ordered 100–500 at a time. Just speculating.
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Yep, it appears the Jnc error occurred when the address marking changed from San Anselmo to San Rafael. Highest San Anselmo I've recorded is SN 12059, and lowest JNC error I've recorded, 12459, has the San Rafael address. The highest Jnc error I've recorded is 19867, and lowest SN with Inc. is 21347. If anybody out there has a SN that fills the gaps between 12059 and 12459 and/or 19867 and 21347, please let me know!
 
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Very interesting thread - and not something I really know much about. I've been lucky to find some uncommon models in good condition over the years, but how many meet the definition of truly "rare," I don't know. What counts as "production" vs. "hand made;" how much weight do you give to markings variations, etc., ...?

Probably the rarest piece I own is a 1950's-vintage, "short-block" Weihrauch HW 55M with double-set triggers, but I suspect quite a few of the guns discussed above are significantly less common.


The Diana model 50M is a pretty well-known model, but this one has the early 2-piece cheekpiece, US "Peerless" markings, and is .22 caliber...
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Sawney Bean said:
Double barrel BB guns are super collectible and some of the old cheap Chinese guns seem to be collectible now, the QB57 take down springer and the XS-B3 that looks kind of like an AK come to mind. There was also the Yewha 3B Dynamite, but that was a .25 cal Korean shotgun. Any air shotgun is pretty collectible.
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Collectible but not really considered rare, double barrel BB guns are constantly for sale on eBay. The OP was asking about rarer production AG's. My Daisy 104 had a production of about 45,000 and my 21 likely quite a bit higher than that.
 
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The Imperial Air rifle company Imperial express pump up air rifle.
They only made 25. 1 further example having its boxlock breech area hand engraved for a Scottish Laird, possibly the rarest and most expensive air rifle of all time.
I've had the good fortune of handling the gun. In my opinion, the greatest air rifle ever built.
Imagine an ultra high quality Sharp Innova but of finest deep blued steel and with 2 barrels side by side.
They designed it along the lines of a sporting shotgun, complete with boxlock breech and shotgun twin triggers and hand crafted shotgun style trigger guard.
It points like a shotgun and handles beautifully with great heft.
Each barrel releases .22 pellets at 10.8ftlbs in quick succession just like a side by side shotgun for 10 pumps. You could request it in .25 at special request and I believe one was made this way.
Internals were built to last a lifetime...
The wood work was re-worked shotgun stocks, with each gun having its own character to the woodwork.
The ultimate sporting air rifle.
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Steveoo said:
The Imperial Air rifle company pump up air rifle.
They only made 25. 1 further example having its boxlock breech area hand engraved for a Scottish Laird, possibly the rarest and most expensive air rifle of all time.
I've had the good fortune of handling the gun. In my opinion, the greatest air rifle ever built.
Imagine an ultra high quality Sharp Innova but of finest deep blued steel and with 2 barrels side by side.
They designed it along the lines of a sporting shotgun, complete with boxlock breech and shotgun twin triggers and hand crafted shotgun style trigger guard.
It points like a shotgun and handles beautifully with great heft.
Each barrel releases .22 pellets at 10.8ftlbs in quick succession just like a side by side shotgun for 10 pumps. You could request it in .25 at special request and I believe one was made this way.
Internals were built to last a lifetime...
The wood work was re-worked shotgun stocks, with each gun having its own character to the woodwork.
The ultimate sporting air rifle.
View attachment 433221
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Certainly not the rarest, several Beeman guns were made with less than 25 examples. Most expensive ??? consider some of the first Daisy models and complete Whiscombe sets.
 
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Yeah, I agree with in regard of antique ball reservoir guns he had, but I was really coming from the modern production perspective like the general trend of the post is suggesting.
In regard price, not sure. That one off sold for something like £5000 sterling in 86.
It would be difficult to price now, but could be up near £10,000 I would think.
The regular 25 batch are running about £2500-£3000 if they ever come up.
No strong argument against some of those old ball reservoir guns.
Whishcombes here run about £2000
 
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Steveoo said:
Yeah, I agree with in regard of antique old specials that he had in his collection, but I was really coming from the modern production perspective like the general trend of the post is suggesting.
In regard price, not sure. That one off sold for something like £5000 sterling in 86.
It would be difficult to price now.
The regular 25 batch are running about £2500-£3000 if they ever come up.
No strong argument against some of those old ball reservoir guns.
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I was not speaking to what was in his collection but yes, modern production and the general trend. Less than 25 R1 Tyrolean's, less than 20 of HW35 chrome or any Beeman/HW guns, fewer still of those chrome and RDB1 marked, Beeman R5, less than 6 Beeman Original model 75 LH, 20 Beeman model 250 commemoratives, etc...
 
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