Lot 24

1925 BSA Flat Tank
Small Arms
Realised: $9,000 November 2009
Engine No. F14481

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Founded at a time of national crisis, The Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) is an example of how history repeats itself as the birth and subsequent growth of BSA was directly related to periods of national crisis. In 1692 and then again at the outbreak of the Crimean War (I854-56) and then finally at the outbreak of WWI in 1914 BSA stepped up to mark and plowed vast amounts of resource to ensure British victory. During the Great War BSA were producing the some 10,000 rifles per week, and the hundreds of thousands of shell fuses and aero components that were required to fuel and replenish the vast destruction the Great War created in its wake. They also produced field transport which proved reliable and critical in terms of ensuring front line communications were maintained. The BSA offered here reflects that era of design. When hostilities finally ceased in 1918 BSA quickly refocused its effort towards feeding the huge civilian demand for personal carriage. Having earned a reputation for ultimate reliability the BSA mark held a special place for much of the commonwealth having carried our boys through the grim thick and thin of WWI. This superior restoration again reflects the high level craftsmanship available in New Zealand.