BUSINESS FIRST
FIRST CLASS The very original Mr. Holland
Harris Holland, born in 1806, was a very successful tobacconist and tobacco wholesaler who also happened to be a very good shot, some say a great one. So good was he that he decided to have guns made for him and then, encouraged by friends, parlayed his fame as a shot into making guns for other people. He set up his own workshop,
brought in craftsmen from Birmingham to staff it and became H. Holland, Gun Manufacturer.
In 1867 he was joined in the business by his nephew Henry and in time the firm became known as Holland & Holland. Soon their fame spread across the world. The quality of their guns was almost legendary. In 1883, The Field magazine, which was the bible of field sports and country living of the era, staged shooting trials in which every category was won by a Holland & Holland gun. As a result of this astounding success Harris, ever the astute marketer, trademarked the name Royal which even to this day is a jealously guarded company asset.
The other word used to describe fine firearms, not just Holland & Holland’s, is Best, a simplistic way perhaps of describing what the best examples of the craft.
‘A Best is a perfect synthesis of form and function,’ Holland & Holland’s technical director Russell Wilkin explains. ‘A good gun has to function well, evidently. But a Best is made of the finest materials and is put together with the finest mechanisms available. And of course all this means one is able to justify a higher price. But this is about value and longevity too. The better the design and the materials, the
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// JULY/AUGUST 2011 49
less work is required to keep a gun in good condition, and the longer it will last – perhaps 100 years or more!’
Naturally, this is a wonderful testimony to the skills of the craftsmen but from a business point of view it’s a nightmare. ‘I’m appalled to see some guns being used by the 4th or 5th generations of a family!’ Wilkin protests. ‘We actually sell very few guns to the traditional customers of old, namely the landowning aristocracy. They’ve all got Best guns, either ours or one of the other fine brands like Purdey or Boss.’
To be fair, this is not an entirely modern phenomenon. Back in the early 1900s trade was getting tight in the UK so Holland & Holland pioneered selling guns to the Russians by opening a gunroom in St. Petersburg. In the 1920s and 1930s it was the princes and Maharajahs of India who provided the custom. The company was always having to box cleverly to stay ahead of the game. Judicious land sales and acquisitions propped up the books in lean times.
Today, the company has gunrooms in New York and Moscow, as well as its flagship premises in Bruton Street, Mayfair. Clothing and accessories are also retailed through a handful of selected stores and shooting grounds in Europe and Russia.
Source: Holland & Holland
www.hollandandholland.com
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