LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Details

AN EXTREMELY RARE HAND-IGNITED PISTOL WITH CONCEALED SLIDING BARREL
Late 16th/early 17th Century
Probably Italian, with tubular wooden body flared towards the rear, covered with leather partly over wire and retaining traces of a laquered russet finish heightened with gilding, the body encased in a cage of flattened iron bars, including three of full-length shaped at the rear and brazed to a flat basal cap, the latter with chiselled stellate button finial, the body reinforced by three lateral bands, two carrying rings for suspension and one with bracket for a ramrod, and with brass 'telescopic' barrel bound with an iron band over the muzzle.
14½in (36.8cm) extended

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

Lot Essay

The laquered finish is very similar to that found on Italian and Venetian decorated leather-covered parade shields dating from the second half of the 16th Century. Now loose, the barrel would seem to have been originally secured for firing by an internal catch.

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