Lot 245
Fine and Very Rare .36 caliber Saxon Wheellock Pistol (“Puffer”) Made For A
Boy, dated 1586
The slightly swamped three-stage barrel beveled at the muzzle, the median chiseled with
diverging flutes and retaining traces of original bluing, the breech struck with the
makers mark IN and dated 1586 across the top flat. The blued flat lock with incised
border, the domed gilt-bronze wheel cover engraved with fruit and foliage, and with a
scalloped edge, the gilt and fluted safety-catch with shaped knob. The sliding pan-cover
release in the form of a gilded shell. Dog finely engraved as a monster head and with
human head finial. Fruitwood full stock profusely inlaid with stag-horn plaques and close
set patterns of ball-flower scrollwork, the latter inhabited by a squirrel, an owl, demon
masks and hounds in pursuit of a hare. The compressed pommel inlaid with a roundel (later)
bearing the arms of Saxony, and with mirror design of flowers segmented by horn lines. The
underside of the fore-end engraved with a minute letter “A”, perhaps the
stockmaker’s mark. Original horn tipped ramrod. Length: 12 inches.
Condition: Very fine with only minor pitting on the barrel,
triggerguard and trigger, the horn (upper) lock retaining plaque, and the ball butt
roundel replaced.
Note: The pair to this pistol, by the same maker and also dated 1586, was sold by
Christie’s London December 16, 1999, lot 344 cf: Sotheby’s London October 1970
lot 77 (Cummer Collection) for a third example, the stock probably by the same maker.
Provenance: The Cummer Collection, Part IV, October 12, 1970, Lot 77.
Estimate: $25000 - $35000
Gregg
Martin Auctions
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