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John Dickson & Son at SCI 2024

January 31st -> February 3rd 2024

John Dickson & Son will again be exhibiting at SCI 2024, held at the Music City Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee. If you are attending the show then please drop in to see us at Booth 1102, Dickson Owners Club members will be gathering at 3pm each day. 

Our kind friends at Delaney & Sons have stepped in at the last minute to help with our stand, as our Managing Director, J-P Daeschler, was unable to make it out to the show. If you would like to make an appointment to meet with Sean Delaney, you can make arrangements through our contact form  here

Left to right are our die-hard Scottish gun fans, Ole Arnt Kinde (Best Gun Dealer in Norway), Lars Mytting (award winning Norwegian author), and Morten Kjus (Best Gun Dealer in Norway). 

All are Dickson and MacNaughton enthusiasts and appropriately dressed in Scottish attire. 

Note the snow outside.

Burns Night with a Scandinavian flavour

Some of our Dickson Owners Club Members in Norway got together this year to celebrate all things Scottish on Burns Night. A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), the author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, known as Burns Night (Scots: Burns Nicht; Scottish Gaelic: Oidhche na Taigeise) also called Robert Burns Day or Rabbie Burns Day (or Robbie Burns Day in Canada).

Lars Mytting is the award-winning author of Norwegian Wood and The Bell in the Lake. An international bestseller and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Prize, 'The Sixteen Trees of the Somme' tells the story of Edvard and starts at his family’s tree farm in Norway, where he was raised by his grandfather. The death of Edvard’s parents when he was three has always been a mystery but he knows that the fate of his grandfather’s brother, Einar, is somehow connected. One day a coffin is delivered to the farm for his grandfather, long before the grandfather’s death - a meticulous, beautiful, and unique piece of craftsmanship with the hallmarks of a certain master craftsman - raising the thought that Einar isn’t dead after all. Edvard is now driven to unravel the mystery of his parents’ death. Following a trail of clues from Norway to the Shetland Islands to the battlefields of France and sixteen ancient walnut trees colored by poison gas in World War I, Edvard ultimately discovers a very unusual inheritance with an intrinsic connection to John Dickson & Son, the renowned gunmaker in Edinburgh.

Unique Dickson Round-Action finally surfaces

Towards the end of 1936, John Dickson & Son commissioned five very special Round-Actions to commemorate 100 years at 63 Princes Street, which would arrive in 1938. The engraving pattern would reflect the original panoramic gun case label, showing Edinburgh Castle, the majestic buildings that lined Waverly gardens, and of course Princes Street with Dickson's shop visible. Harry Kell was chosen to execute the work, the panoramic scene the same for each gun but the surrounding foliate scroll to be slightly different. If you would like to read about Kell's connection with Dickson's you can find it here

These five guns were the last guns that Harry Kell engraved for Dicksons. Two pairs and one single gun were delivered, all 12 gauge and 27in barrels, which was the preferred barrel length of that period. All five guns were best finished and cased. The two pairs have been in circulation over the years, one pair residing in Scotland and one pair in the USA, the single guns' whereabouts has been unknown for at least sixty years - until now.

 This gun is currently in our workshop and being prepared for sale, should you be interested in becoming its next custodian, then please get in contact with us now  here