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A RARE AUSTRIAN LONG HOLSTER PISTOL WITH WHEEL-LOCK MECHANISM INCORPORATING AN INTERNAL AUTOMATIC SAFETY SYSTEM

CIRCA 1640-50

Details

A RARE AUSTRIAN LONG HOLSTER PISTOL WITH WHEEL-LOCK MECHANISM INCORPORATING AN INTERNAL AUTOMATIC SAFETY SYSTEM
Circa 1640-50
With sighted barrel octagonal at the rear and polygonal ahead of the girdle, strongly bevelled flat lock struck on the inside with Nuremberg mark and maker's mark 'CR' segmented by spears (Neue Støckel 2294), the interior mechanism additionally fitted with a pivoted long lever locking the sear, the release actuated by the forward arm of the lever engaging a cam turning on the movement of the dog, the lockplate decorated with a chiselled fluted moulding projecting at the rear, the pan and the wheel-bracket chiselled en suite, and the pan-cover, the dog and its component parts all finely cut with baluster ornament, stained fruitwood full stock decorated over its length with a series of demon masks and small sprays of scrolls carved in relief, carved winged grotesques over the butt and again at both ends of the ramrod channel in imitation of fitted mounts, a trophy-of-arms in relief opposite the lock, and 'fishtail' butt fitted with domed iron cap (a small crack and chip immediately in front of the lock, the butt with an early working repair, the stock lightly varnished), with iron trigger-guard, and iron-tipped ramrod, perhaps the original.
26 5/8in (67.7cm)

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

A Carinthian (Ferlach) pistol with an unmarked lock very similar both in form and internal construction sold in these rooms 24 May 2006, lot 136, from the collection of Dr. Robert Amalric. For another Austrian pistol with a lock by the same maker as the present, and the stock carved in an Italianate style closely related to that of the present pistol see Sotheby & Co., The Runes Collection, part II, 25 March 1965, lot 69 (shortened).

A pair of pistols in the Wallace Collection has Nuremberg locks incorporating a safety system of this type (A1161/2); an account of their operation is given in the catalogue.

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