A FINE 28-BORE GERMAN (NUREMBERG) WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL

CIRCA 1590

Details

A FINE 28-BORE GERMAN (NUREMBERG) WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL
Circa 1590
With boldly swamped two-stage barrel struck on the top of the octagonal breech with the barrelsmith's mark of Hans Herl (Neue Støckel 4935) and another mark (indistinct), flat lock-plate stamped with the mark of L. Strauss (Neue Støckel 1063) and with the Nuremberg mark on the tail, the rear section of the plate with applied pierced and engraved panel, domed wheel-cover, engraved cock and cock-spring finial, engraved sliding pan-cover with slotted release-button, full stock entirely veneered in dark horn and inlaid with white staghorn lines engraved with ropework and running foliage enclosing pierced engraved white staghorn panels finely decorated with Classical trophies of arms, scenes of the chase, courtly figures in contemporary costume, landscapes, a mythological scene, masks, demi-figures, and animals, including a bear playing the bagpipes, the compressed pommel divided into eight segments by raised staghorn ribs (minor defects) and inlaid with masks and bunches of ball-flowers, the horn cap engraved with a Classical warrior's head, swivelling safety-catch opposite the lock, iron trigger-guard, finely engraved staghorn ramrod-pipes and fore-end cap (the latter worn), and later ramrod (iron parts with some wear and surface pitting, some wear to engraving on inlays)
18¾in. (47.6cm.)

Lot Essay

The horn veneer on the stock is an unusual (and no doubt costly) refinement found on very few wheel-lock pistols. The last horn-veneered example in these Rooms was on 25 February 1981, lot 129, a pistol by Elias Gessler of Strasburg, circa 1600

More from ANTIQUE ARMS & ARMOUR

View All