Details
A DOUBLE CASED SET OF FINE EARLY FLINTLOCK DUELLING PISTOLS
BOTH PAIRS BY JOHN MANTON, LONDON, THE FIRST CIRCA 1785, THE SECOND CIRCA 1787-8
The first pair with sighted rebrowned twist octagonal 28-bore barrels with signatures reading towards the breeches, gold-lined touch-holes, finely engraved tangs, signed bevelled detented locks each with stepped tail, safety-catch, roller bearing on a ramp, and gold-lined semi-rainproof pan, figured walnut full stocks, flat-sided chequered butts, each diamond with a dot at the centre, finely engraved blued iron mounts including trigger-guards with large pineapple finial, silver escutcheons engraved with a crest, set triggers, original horn-tipped ramrods, each with worm, and traces of original finish, the second pair with sighted lightly swamped blued octagonal 38-bore barrels rifled with seven grooves, signed 'Carl Starek in Wien' and stamped with three small gold-lined marks around the back-sight, gold-lined touch-holes, finely engraved case-hardened tangs, signed case-hardened locks similar to those of the first pair of pistols, but each with blued safety-catch and backward-curling comb on each cock, figured walnut full stocks, flat-sided chequered butts, blued iron mounts similar to those of the first pair of pistols, original horn-tipped ramrods, and much original finish: in lined and fitted mahogany case with accessories including two three-way flasks each covered in mottled leather, the lid with raised carrying handle of Chippendale form
15 1/8in. and 15¾in.
Literature
W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, The Mantons, p. 60, plates 13, 14 and 49, and p. 64
British Gunmakers, Their Trade Cards, Cases and Equipment 1760-1860, plate 399
D.H.L. Back, The Mantons 1782-1878, pp. 13, 16, plates 4a, b and 50
