TWO EXTREMELY RARE 7-BORE GERMAN (BRUNSWICK) ALL-STEEL WHEEL-LOCK BELT PISTOLS, ALMOST FORMING A PAIR

CIRCA 1575

Details

TWO EXTREMELY RARE 7-BORE GERMAN (BRUNSWICK) ALL-STEEL WHEEL-LOCK BELT PISTOLS, ALMOST FORMING A PAIR
Circa 1575
Each with unusually heavy two-stage barrels with pronounced moulding at the muzzle and etched with arabesques and a standing halberdier in contemporary costume, all on a blackened granulated ground, etched flat lock-plates each struck with the Brunswick mark (Neue Støckel 2118), and maker's mark (Neue Støckel 5609), probably that of Hans Hammers, etched flat wheel-retaining plates, swivelling safety-catches, engraved cocks, engraved pan-covers each with plain release-button, full stocks each struck with the same maker's mark as the locks and fully etched with arabesques, foliage, standing figures, and, opposite the lock, with a scene of the chase, all on a blackened granulated ground, one pistol with a mythical figure in front of the trigger-guard, the butts bound with plaited iron wire and each with etched hollow pommel opening to form a butt-trap, and iron belt hooks and ramrods (each pistol with small areas of light wear, and minor restoration)
Average length 14½in. (36.8cm.) (2)

Provenance

H.L. Visser Collection, Part II, Sotheby & Co., London, 3 June 1991, lot 85 (£17,600 including premium)

Lot Essay

For an almost identical pistol, see Wolfgang Glage, Das Kunsthandwerk der Büchsenmacher im Land Braunschweig, Brunswick, 1983, p.10, plate 4 According to Glage, Hans Hammers, gunmaker in Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel, was appointed court gunmaker by Duke Julius of Brunswick and Lüneburg (1528-1589) in 1573

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