Lot Essay
To judge from further examples of this type which have appeared on the market the warrior bust roundel would appear to be found exclusively on Saxon pistols pre-dating 1590, the earliest being dated 1586.
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DATED 1589
Details
A WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL OF THE SAXON ELECTORAL TRABANTENLEIB-GARDE
Dated 1589
With heavy swamped barrel formed in two stages, decorated with engraved bands behind the girdle and over the breech and the latter struck with both the initials 'N F H' and the date 1589, flat lock struck with a mark, a hammer (Neue Støckel 5032), fitted with safety-catch and sliding pan-cover with button release, blackened full stock stamped in imitation of rough staghorn and sparsely inlaid with engraved horn plaques, spherical pommel inset with a silver roundel etched with a helmeted classical warrior bust, iron trigger-guard, the ramrod-pipe and fore-end cap each of engraved horn, and iron-tipped wooden ramrod (incomplete).
21¼ (54cm)
Dated 1589
With heavy swamped barrel formed in two stages, decorated with engraved bands behind the girdle and over the breech and the latter struck with both the initials 'N F H' and the date 1589, flat lock struck with a mark, a hammer (Neue Støckel 5032), fitted with safety-catch and sliding pan-cover with button release, blackened full stock stamped in imitation of rough staghorn and sparsely inlaid with engraved horn plaques, spherical pommel inset with a silver roundel etched with a helmeted classical warrior bust, iron trigger-guard, the ramrod-pipe and fore-end cap each of engraved horn, and iron-tipped wooden ramrod (incomplete).
21¼ (54cm)
Provenance
The Saxon Electoral Armouries, Dresden.
The Property of a Gentleman, sold in these rooms, July 14, 1961, lot 157.
The Property of a Gentleman, sold in these rooms, July 14, 1961, lot 157.
Literature
R. E. Brooker and H. Lehner, The Military Pistols of Saxony, The Bulletin of the American Society of Arms Collectors, No. Thirty-one, 1975, p.110. A very similar example dated 1588 is also recorded by the authors, together with a further three by different makers, each inset with a warrior bust roundel.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium