BY SOLER, 17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY FIRST HALF

細節

An Extremely Rare 38-Bore Spanish (Ripoll) Wheel-Lock Belt Pistol
By Soler, 17th Century, probably first half
With two-stage barrel, the breech octagonal and with standing back-sight, the remainder of 'hog's back' form, the muzzle with baluster mouldings, short tang, signed bevelled lock retained by three side-nails and with raised integral wheel-cover, curved pan-cover moving around the axis of the wheel and with slotted retaining-catch, and small pivoting safety-catch, the cock with movable upper jaw, the inner surface of both jaws engraved with a geometric design, walnut full stock encased in iron enclosing panels of scrollwork, oviform pommel, later(?) faceted spur trigger-guard, iron belt hook, and original iron ramrod with baluster tip
14½in. (36.8cm.)

來源

William Goodwin Renwick, Sotheby & Co., London, 17 July 1972, lot 14 (£3,800 to Neal)

出版

Peter Hawkins, The Price Guide to Antique Guns and Pistols, p. 13

展覽

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1931, cat. no. 303

注意事項

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

拍品專文

This is a very fine example of the later type of Ripoll wheel-lock pistol, which is believed to have been introduced in the first half of the 17th century
The Soler signature is the only one known on Ripoll wheel-lock pistols, and appears also on a pair in the Museo Arqueológico, Madrid (unnumbered). It is perhaps that of Gaspar Soler, listed by R. Marti, X. Sala, J.L. Calvó (Pistoles, Trabucs i Pedrenyals, p. 138) in Vic, examined in 1622, who is probably also the maker of an unsigned pistol in the Musée de l'Armée, Paris (inv. no. MPO 937), and an unsigned pair now divided between the Ripoll and Vic museums

See James D. Lavin, A History of Spanish Firearms, pp. 230-231, plates 110-111
'Ripoll Pistols', The Bulletin of the American Society of Arms Collectors, no. 75 (Spring 1972), pp. 2,5, fig. 4
Eudaldo Graells, 'A Primer of Ripoll Gunlocks', Arms and Armor Annual, vol. 1, pp. 131-132, figs. 4 and 5
Les Armes De Foc De Ripoll, pp. 30, 86, 90-91, 102
R. Marti, X. Sala, J.L. Calvó, op. cit, pp. 16, 17, 45(?), 51, 138
For information on W.G. Renwick, see footnote to lot 260