This incredible double rifle was manufactured in 1876 per the information on page 193 of Donald Dallas's "Purdey Gun & Rifle Makers: The Definitive History," and it has been identified by Dr. Nicholas Harlow, Gunroom Manager at James Purdey & Sons in London, as one of the guns displayed by Purdey at both the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878 where the firm won a gold medal and subsequently at the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 before being sold to the 3rd Baron Keane in July 1884. John Manly Arbuthnot Keane (1816-1901) is a noteworthy figure when it comes to fine Purdeys from the late 19th century. He was the son of Lieutenant-General John Keane (1781-1844) who was created Baron Keane on August 12, 1839. Like his father, the younger John Keane also served in the army and was as a captain for thirteen years prior to his retirement in 1848. His elder brother, Edward (1815-1882), became the 2nd Baron Keane in 1844 with their father's death but himself died without an heir leaving John to become 3rd Baron Keane. Keane purchased four of the eight guns previously mentioned in George Sala's description of Purdey's exhibit at the Exposition Universelle in 1878. When he died in 1901, the newspapers reported that he "bequeathed to the Duke of York his guns, gun cases and cabinets, his pistols, walking-sticks, and hunting and riding whips. The late Lord Keane's estate has been valued at £11,789 gross, and £11,534 net." Three of the four Purdey's from the 1878 Exhibition thus became part of the Keane Bequest with another Purdey and four pistols and are preserved within the Royal Gunroom at Sandringham (for further reading on the Keane Bequest please read "The Royal Gunroom at Sandringham" by David Baker, p. 105-117), and only this stunning double rifle remains in private hands. The rifle features blued barrels with a raised solid rib with panels of matting at the front and rear fitted with a beaded blade front sight and a 100 yard V-notch rear sight with platinum sight line and signed "J. PURDEY & SONS, AUDLEY HOUSE, SOUTH AUDLEY STREET, LONDON." ahead of the rear sight. The underside of each barrel and the forearm iron are marked with the matching serial numbers, and the barrels and watertable are struck with London black powder proof marks. "J. PURDEY/PATENTEE" is marked on top of the standing breech. The barrels are equipped with an extractor. Aside from the barrels, the metal components are finished in French gray and display extraordinary deep relief chiseling and engraving primarily consisting of complex interlacing foliate scrollwork inhabited by floral blooms and a variety of animals, masks, and mythical beasts. The underside of the side-clipped action features a particularly complex mask design, and a further mask of a classical goddess is featured on the lever, and a putto is featured on the trigger guard tang. While the engraving of all four of the guns from the 1878 Exposition Universelle have been attributed previously to Aristide Barre, only two were noted in the period as engraved by Barre, and this rifle and serial number 9563 are both listed with an "L" in the column for engraving in Purdey's Dimension Book which is believed to indicate engraving by James Lucas who was Purdey's head in-house engraver and created the firm's house engraving patterns. The back action island locks feature non-rebounding hammers and half-cock safeties. The checkered walnut splinter forearm features an Anson release engraved en suite, and the very highly figured buttstock features a checkered wrist and an oval shadow line cheekpiece on the left. Sling eyes are fitted to the underside of the barrels and butt, the latter ahead of a silver oval escutcheon inscribed with the heraldry of Baron Keane. The accompanying brass cornered oak and leather takedown case is marked "The RIGHT HONBLE LORD KEANE." and "PURDEY RIFLE." in gilt letters and has Baron Keane's coat of arms on the escutcheon. It is lined with red Morocco leather with gilt stamping and contains a deluxe set of loading and maintenance equipment, including gilt Dixon cartridge extractor and gilt Purdey loading tool. A canvas and leather outer with painted baron's coronet over "Rt Honble Lord Keane./Purdey Rifle" is also included. The history of Purdey's exhibition guns displayed in Paris in 1878, including this double rifle, is discussed in detail in "The Paris Exhibition of 1878" by Harlow in a series of three articles published in "The Vintage Gun Journal" in January-March of 2022. He notes that the list of the exhibits for the Parisian Exposition Universelle held between May 1 and November 10, 1878, and indicates that the exhibition "was a landmark event for the company." Some of the guns from the list had been completed as early as 1872, and thus the earlier guns may have also been displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. He writes, "From surviving records, the Purdey display in Paris appears to have been the largest of any exhibition by the firm in the Victorian period. The majority of the display items were sent over on 18 April, about two weeks before the exhibition opened. This included twenty-nine guns, framed pictures, warrants, and all of the cleaning and maintenance accessories needed for the show." Three additional guns were shipped on April 26th, and another nine where sent out during the exhibition. 19th century journalist George Augustus Sala writing in "Paris Herself Again in 1878-9" went into detail about the 1878 exhibition, including: "There is a glass case belonging to a Gold Medalist which it would be decidedly unjust to pass without mention ere the Exposition Universelle comes to the end of its wondrous career. I allude to one containing the sporting guns and rifles manufactured by Messrs. James Purdey & Sons of Oxford Street, London. Most of the fowling-pieces and rifles, complete in workmanship and exquisite in finish, exhibited by Messrs. Purdey, who are gun-makers to the Queen and the Prince of Wales, have been purchased by Royal and noble personages..." Harlow indicates most of the remaining firearms were sold within two years of the exhibition. Sala continues later stating, "The extra Purdey exhibit consists of four guns, elaborately chased in the champ-leve style, two of which have been embellished by the talented artist Aristido Barri [sic], who was arrested at Vienna as a Communist, but was subsequently released, and is now occupied in executing a champ-leve for the Emperor of Austria." In his second article, Harlow notes that the exhibition guns discussed by Sala from 1878 exhibition are recorded as: "No. 9563 – 12-bore bar-in-wood sidelock hammer gun (£94 10s); No. 9568 - .450 (BPE) hammer double rifle (£120); Nos. 10,140/1 –20-bore island backlock hammer guns (£210). The gold-inlaid pair with maple stocks: Nos. 10,110/1 –16-bore bar-in-wood sidelock hammer guns (£200). The pair of Ladies’ guns with ebonised stocks: Nos. 10,103/4 –28-bore bar-in-wood sidelock hammer guns (£140)." This rifle is the second on the list, and he notes that it and 9563 "were the only two guns known to be exhibited twice, traveling to Sydney for a trade exhibition in 1879, priced at £100 (net £90) and £125 (net £112 10s) respectively. They may also have gone onto Melbourne in 1880, but no list for that exhibition survives. Both were eventually sold to Keane, but at different times and possibly without his knowing they had been prize-winning guns. He purchased No. 9568 first, in July 1884 for £110, followed by No. 9563 in December 1885 for £93 4s 6d. Given their relative age, and the distances they had traveled, he received remarkably little discount from the prices they first had in 1878. One hundred and forty-three years after the exhibition, these guns are still considered to be some of the finest examples of Purdey guns as works of art. Their rarity means that they have always had something of a collector's following, and therefore are generally a source of interest when they do reappear on the market." In the third article he also notes, "Keane’s will, combined with his accounts, leaves one rifle unaccounted for. No. 9568, the 60-bore double rifle, was never mentioned again after its purchase in 1884, and was apparently not included in the bequest to the Prince of Wales in 1901. Although it may be coincidental, it was also the only one not to be purchased under the ‘Separate Account’." Thus, this incredible double rifle remains one of the few extravagant Purdey sporting guns owned by Keane that are not currently part of the Royal Gunroom at Sandringham. In addition to being part of the gold medal winning display by Purdey in 1878, the included 2004 article "Guns of the Concours: Purdey Double Rifle No. 9568" by Roger Sanger and Steve Helsley discusses this extraordinary Purdey double rifle from the Norman R. Blank Collection receiving the Best in Show award at the first Gold Medal Concours d'Elegance of Fine Guns in January 2001. They note that the judges were in rare unanimous agreement that this rifle was the "first best" at the show "despite the fact that the collectors had brought out their best for display and competition." They note the 7th Gold Medal Concours in April 2004 was dedicated to Blank's memory and that at subsequent shows, the top gun would receive the Norman R. Blank Best in Show Award. Some of the historical details reported in the 2004 article are incorrect; for those details, please see Harlow's articles in "The Vintage Gun Journal" in January-March of 2022 and available on their website. Provenance: The Baron Keane Collection; J.D. "Buck" Buchanan; The Dr. Earl J. Thee Collection; The Norman R. Blank Collection

Exceptionally fine overall. 95% plus of the period factory refurbished finish remains on the barrels which display a few small patches of loss and staining. The remaining metal exhibits beautiful French gray, exceptionally crisp designs, and minor patination. The wood is equally fine overall with stunning figure on the butt, crisp checkering, and minimal light handling and storage marks and spots. Mechanically excellent. The case and outer are very good with mild age and storage related wear. The accessories, some absent, are generally very fine with minimal wear from age. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire a historically and artistically significant J. Purdey & Sons double rifle exhibited in Purdey's award winning display at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878 and the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879 and subsequently purchased by the 3rd Baron Keane. The remainder of Baron Keane's incredible Purdey exhibition guns remain today in the gunroom at Sandringham House, one of King Charles III's two privately owned residences which the Royal Family continues to use as a sporting and country estate.