LONDON.- A pair of Purdey shotguns once owned by Colonel William Stirling, one of the two brothers who founded the SAS, were sold yesterday (8.12.10) for £42,000 at Bonhams Sporting Gun Sale in Knightsbridge. Colonel William Stirling formed 2 Special Air Service in 1943, after his brother David, the original founder of the SAS was captured. The pair of 12-bore self-opening sidelock ejector guns by J. Purdey & Sons had been offered for sale with an estimate of £18,000 to £25,000. The makers confirmed that the guns were completed in 1949 for Colonel W. Stirling, and were rebarrelled by the makers in 1975. They have remained in the same family since new. William Stirling was the eldest son of Brigadier Archibald Stirling of Keir, and was educated at Ampleforth College and Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1932. He joined the Scots Guards, and during the Second World War commanded 62 Commando before forming 2 Special Air