Oxford Circus has long been one of the premier shopping centers of London, but if you start walking southwest of that extremely busy crossroads the crowds slowly dissipate and the stores become increasingly expensive. This is the Mayfair area of London, one of the only places where I have seen a Bugatti dealership across the street from an Aston Martin dealership. It’s home to many of the world’s biggest luxury brands. Nestled in the middle of all that opulence is the London headquarters for Holland&Holland, makers of bespoke hunting rifles and shotguns since 1835. Behind the clothing-filled front rooms and down a back staircase of that shop lies one of London’s best kept secrets and the most fascinating assortment of objects I have ever seen.
H&H makes custom guns — firearms designed and made specifically for each buyer to their exacting specifications. Therefore each gun has an intended buyer from the day it’s first laid down, a situation which makes it difficult for a company to accumulate examples of their work over time. To remedy, Holland&Holland have been buying back some of the more historically fascinating examples of their work from their centuries of operation, and has compiled them into their Collection that’s housed in their London gun room. I had the distinct pleasure of spending a few short hours there with Holland&Holland’s technical manager Pat Murphy, whose extensive knowledge of the guns left me nearly speechless
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