BY THOMAS ARCHER, BIRMINGHAM, BIRMINGHAM SILVER HALLMARKS, CIRCA 1780

Details

A Pair Of 56-Bore Flintlock Box-Lock Pocket Pistols
By Thomas Archer, Birmingham, Birmingham silver hallmarks, circa 1780
With three-stage turn-off cannon barrels numbered respectively '2' and '3', signed border engraved actions decorated with rococo ornament, swelling figured walnut butts finely inlaid with interlaced scrollwork in silver wire, engraved trigger-guards, cast and chased silver butt-caps decorated in relief with a shell and a grotesque mask, and silver escutcheons each engraved with owner's crest and initials 'JH', Birmingham proof marks, silver maker's mark of Charles Freeth
81/8in. (20.6cm.) (2)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The crest and initials are those of James Harris (1746-1820), 1st Baron Malmesbury of Malmesbury (1788), and 1st Earl of Malmesbury and Viscount Fitzharris of Heron Court (1800), politician, and the most able British diplomatist of his time, nicknamed "The Lion" in later life on account of his fine eyes and mass of white hair. He served as Ambassador to Russia, the Netherlands, and Prussia, and as envoy to Brunswick, and was buried in Salisbury Cathedral, where his life is commemorated by a monument by Chantrey

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