Lot 77
77
A Rare 25-Bore Flintlock Sporting Rifle
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus bu… Read more
A Rare 25-Bore Flintlock Sporting Rifle

BY JOHN TWIGG, LONDON, CIRCA 1777

Details
A Rare 25-Bore Flintlock Sporting Rifle
By John Twigg, London, circa 1777
With rebrowned swamped octagonal twist barrel cut with nine grooves and with second form of signature, iron two-leaf back-sight and brass fore-sight, the rear of the breech engraved with a band of beadwork between engraved lines, gold-lined touch-hole, finely engraved tang, flat detented bevelled lock secured by a single side-nail and with safety-catch also locking the steel and second form of signature, roller, moulded border, stepped tail, and some blued finish on the internal working parts, moulded figured walnut half-stock (reduced from full, minor bruising) in the German fashion, finely carved in relief with a shell behind the barrel tang, chequered grip with a dot in the centre of each diamond, raised cheek-piece, wooden patch-box cover (small repair), finely engraved shaped iron butt-plate, wooden trigger-guard with iron strap terminating in a second pattern acorn finial, silver escutcheon engraved with owner's crest and monogram, iron ramrod-pipes, set trigger, and original horn-tipped ramrod with powder-measure, the patch-box containing a brass powder-measure, an iron worm, and a typewritten note about the rifle signed by the late owner and dated 8 August 1960, London proof marks
28 1/8in. (71.5cm.) barrel
Provenance
James Harris (1746-1820), 1st Baron Malmesbury of Malmesbury (1788), and 1st Earl Malmesbury and Viscount Fitzharris of Heron Court (1800)
Literature
W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, Great British Gunmakers 1740-1790, p. 185, plates 170-171
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

James Harris, politician, was the most able diplomatist of his time, nicknamed "the Lion" in later life on account of his striking 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
A pair of his pistols was sold from the W. Keith Neal Collection in these Rooms, 9 November 2000, lot 191

Neal and Back (op. cit.) list only eight known Twigg sporting rifles (including a pair, and a converted single)

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