A Very Rare Cased 88-Bore Percussion Seven-Barrel Volley Rifle
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A Very Rare Cased 88-Bore Percussion Seven-Barrel Volley Rifle

BY FORSYTH & CO., PATENT GUN MAKERS, LONDON, NO. 3704, CIRCA 1831

Details
A Very Rare Cased 88-Bore Percussion Seven-Barrel Volley Rifle
By Forsyth & Co., Patent Gun Makers, London, No. 3704, circa 1831
With twist barrels (surface pitted) each cut with seven grooves, and signed on the rib between the top two barrels, silver fore-sight, engraved case-hardened breech block with single engraved platinum plug, long scroll engraved tang decorated with a stag and a goose, serial numbered case-hardened rounded detented lock signed 'Forsyth & Co. Patent', fitted with safety-catch, and engraved with scrollwork and water-fowl, figured walnut butt stamped with stocker's initials 'T.T.' (probably for Thomas Thompson of 4 Star Corner), chequered grip, engraved iron mounts retaining faint traces of original blued finish (some surface pitting), and later horn-tipped ramrod: in fitted mahogany case, almost certainly original, lined in green velvet (minor damage to lining and partitions) with accessories including seven-cavity brass bullet mould, seven-nozzled brass powder charger, two wooden cups (each for seven balls), Sutton patent powder-flask, and Sykes cap dispenser, the lid (cracked and chipped) with trade label of the fifth design, the exterior with flush-fitting carrying handle and circular escutcheon, London proof marks
20¾in. (52.7cm.) barrels
Literature
W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, Forsyth & Co.: Patent Gunmakers, pp. 16-17, 70, plate 45, and colour plate 7
W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, British Gunmakers Their Trade Cards, Cases and Equipment 1760-1860, plate 362
D.H.L. Back, Forsyth & Co.: Patent Gunmakers, pp. 25-26, 51, plate 38, and colour plate XI
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

This goose rifle has a curious history. The case was purchased by the Essex gun collector Alan Dace in a pawnbroker's shop in Ipswich. At the time he was assured that there was no rifle with it. Some ten years later Dace heard that a volley rifle had been purchased in the same shop, and Keith Neal was able to acquire the rifle by exchange
Only two complete cased Forsyth seven-barrel volley rifles are recorded. Seven-barrel sporting rifles, for birds as well as roe deer, were made popular by Colonel Thomas Thornton's sporting adventures, chronicled in A Sporting Tour through the Northern Parts of England and A Sporting Tour through France
See lots 12, 16 and 165

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