Fine Gun Gallery -
A Historical Portfolio of Exceptional Firearms
Handled by Hallowell & Co. over the Decades.
Since 1983, Hallowell & Co. has established a reputation based on dealing in fine quality firearms and for fair pricing.
While it is not possible to build a business limited to only unfired, One-of-One-Thousand Winchester rifles or to Boss over & under 20 gauge shotguns having seen no use since their construction in the 1930s, we make considerable effort to insure that every gun we sell meets our standards of high quality, excellent condition, and sensible pricing. Below a certain threshold of quality and condition, regardless of bargain price, we do not accept guns into our inventory at all.
In considering a gun for sale, we look first for graceful overall line, balance and proportion, and for suitability for use. Then, skill in execution of construction with fine fit and finish both to wood and metal. It ought to be built with high quality materials. While engraving is an acknowledged attribute of a fine gun, engraving is only decoration. It is the innate quality of a firearm in the first place that is important. There are admittedly many mass-produced factory guns that are now rare and desirable to collectors because they were built in configurations that proved undesirable at their time of manufacture, were unsuccessful designs in the first place, or over time whose brothers suffered enormous rates of attrition. We fail to appreciate the attraction of rarity alone. We gravitate, rather, to guns with purity of design, individually created by the hands of skilled artist-craftsmen. While many of these guns may actually be unique, it is not the rarity---it is the quality that is paramount. And, while during its life so far, a fine firearm certainly may have seen the use for which it was intended [that is what it was built for], it should remain in very presentable condition and have seen no abuse, no out-of-character modification or refinishing.
Fine firearms embody both an intensity of craftsmanship in a small package together with monumental strength and functional durability, unmatched by virtually any other aspect of human endeavor. A well-made firearm, with only very simple maintenance, can withstand pressures on the order of 50,000 psi and can be readily expected to have a useful life in excess of 100 years. No other category of complex mechanical device can routinely make such a claim. It is our job, as custodians, to pass these marvelous artifacts along to future generations.
We have selected for display here an eclectic group of fine, rare, unusual and exceptional guns, many archetypal of significant forms in the development of sporting arms surviving in superb condition; many unique, that we have been honored to handle. While the criteria for selection has been a combination of graceful overall line, balance and proportion, of creativity of mechanical design, of meticulous execution of detail, of refined decoration and of superb condition, the overriding criteria is Quality. We apologize that some of the older photographs are not, technically, as good as more recent ones. Nevertheless, we hope you will enjoy perusing the photographs as much as we did having these wonderful things for a while.
---Morris Hallowell
Classic Magazine Rifles Contemporary Magazine Rifles
Classic Single Shot Rifles Contemporary Single Shot Rifles
Classic Double Rifles Contemporary Double Rifles
Classic Shotguns Contemporary Shotguns
The Hallowell & Co. Historical Gallery portrays fine guns we have handled over the years and is for informational purposes only.
These guns are no longer available today. Please click on any of the links below to see what we actually do have available for purchase.
Hallowell & Co., Inc. PO Box 1445. Livingston, Montana 59047 USA
Tel: 406 222-4770 Email: morris@hallowellco.com
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10 - 6. (Mountain Time)
Our inventory is constantly changing. Please bookmark this site and return often.
Contents © 1996 - 2023 Hallowell & Co., Inc.