LONDON.- A fine Purdey hammer gun made for Agustín Fernando Muñoz, Duke de Riansares, the second husband of the Regent of Spain, Maria Christina, was sold in Bonhams Modern Sporting Guns sale on 3rd December for £20,000. The gun, completed in 1877, had been estimated to sell for £10,000 – 15,000.

Muñoz was raised in humble surroundings in Tarancón, a small municipality in the province of Cuenca. Keen to avoid following his father into the tobacco industry, he enlisted in the royal bodyguard and relocated to Madrid. It was there that Muñoz came into contact with Maria Christina, and fell in love with her.

Accounts of how Muñoz attracted the attention of the Queen vary: according to one, he courageously stopped the runaway horses pulling her carriage with her trapped inside; according to another, he simply picked up the handkerchief which she had dropped behind her. Whichever it was, it certainly worked – King Ferdinand died on 29 September 1833, and on 28 December, less than three months after his death, Maria and Muñoz were married.

The couple were forced to keep their marriage secret – Maria would have been obliged to forfeit her regency had it been publicly acknowledged – but in reality the union was well known within the Spanish court. But the pressure of hiding the marriage eventually became too great. In 1840, Maria abdicated, and the couple fled in exile to France, where they took up residence at Château de Malmaison, a magnificent country-house a few miles from Paris.

They would not return until the overthrow of General Baldomero Espartero, after which the marriage was publicly recognised.

Field Marshal Sir Francis Wogan Festing
A fine and rare 12-bore shotgun once owned by Field Marshall Sir Frances Festing, GCB, KBE, DSO, also sold well for £27,500 having been estimated to make £12,000 to £16,000.

Field Marshal Festing was known as a soldier who led from the front. “Frankie Festing” distinguished himself during WW2 campaigns in the Indian Ocean and Burma and his post war career was as successful.

The shotgun makers, Boss & Co, of St James, London, have confirmed that the gun was completed in 1893 and is one of only fourteen ever made. This particular gun was made for a Mr Morton H. Festing Esq.

'Frankie' Festing (1902-1976) was educated at Winchester College before being commissioned into the 3rd Battalion the Rifle Brigade in 1921. In 1940 he became Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment and then in 1942 Commander of 29th Independent Infantry Brigade Group which was the landing force of Force 121 for Operation Ironclad, the seizure of Vichy French ports and airfields in the Indian Ocean, notably Madagascar.

In November 1942 he took command of 36th Division, which was the only all British Division in Field Marshal Slim's 14th Army, all the other Divisions were largely drawn from the Indian Army which included 29th Infantry Brigade, and at the beginning of 1944 led it in the final stages of the Arakan offensive of the Burma Campaign.

In mid-1944 the division moved to Northern Burma as part of the US led Northern Combat Area Command before rejoining 14th Army. Festing had a reputation as a front line soldier and on 29 October 1944 he personally led the advance platoon of the 36th British Division into Mawlu.

TOP LOT IN THE SALE
The top lot in the sale was a fine pair of Kelly-engraved 12 bore single trigger self-opening sidelock ejector guns by J. Purdey & Son in their leather case with canvas cover which sold for £79,300 against an estimate of £30,000 to £40,000.