CIRCA 1585-90

Details

A FINE SOUTH GERMAN WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL (PUFFER)
circa 1585-90
With swamped two-stage barrel struck with Augsburg mark together with an orb mark (Neue Støckel 5743) and retaining most of its original blued finish, plain flat lock, pierced engraved flat wheel-cover, safety-catch, sliding pan-cover and the dog engraved with monster's heads, ebonised full stock profusely inlaid with engraved staghorn panels variously of guilloche, leaf and strapwork ornament all bordered by horn lines, all enclosing further horn plaques including two grotesques opposite the lock, a demon mask beneath the fore-end and an opposing pair of male and female heads about the barrel tang, compressed pommel en suite and involving a series of engraved rosettes, iron trigger-guard, the ramrod-pipe and fore-end cap each of engraved horn, the latter decorated with a demon mask, and wooden ramrod with engraved horn tip.
20¼in (51.5cm)

Literature

Alaric and R.E.Brooker, Les Pistolets à Rouet à Pommeau-boule au Décor 'à la Rose', G.d.A. No.298, April 1999

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Pistols from this distinctive series are preserved in the Bayerisches Armeemuseum, Ingolstadt (Inv.-Nr 51/125 and 51/126). Others are in the Wallace Collection (A1148), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Inv.No.14.25.1402A), the Odescalchi Collection, Rome (Inv.Nos. 248-9) and in the Landeszeughaus, Graz (Inv.Nr RP33 and RP44).
A further two examples, almost forming a pair, were sold in these rooms 16 December 1999, lot 345, £25,000 (exclusive of premium)

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