CIRCA 1580

Details

A SAXON WHEEL-LOCK PUFFER
CIRCA 1580
With swamped two stage barrel the octagonal breech marked H R with a rampant lion and arrow in between (Neue Støckel 5497), the breech and tang with incised lines. Flat lock with spring loaded safety, flat wheel cover, dog, pan, and cover with incised lines, spring loaded cover release (malfunctioning). Wood stock with engraved bone plaques with closely wound spirals and pellets, figures and masks, ball butt with round cap engraved with helmeted mustachioed man. Iron triggerguard and horn tipped wooden ramrod.
Overall: 24 5⁄8 in.
The successful bidder will be responsible for arranging their own shipments or collecting in-person and will be responsible for applicable New York taxes.

Provenance

The Saxon Royal Armouries, Dresden.
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich.
James M. Hodgson.
With F. Theodore Dexter.
George L. Hudson.
Wrigley Museum, Chicago.
W. Robert Clark.
Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Elizabeth Seigel Vice President, Specialist, Head of Private and Iconic Collections

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Lot Essay

The distinctive decoration of the wood stock, with minute inlays of stag-horn in tight spirals surrounded by pellets, is characteristic of a large number of German Puffers made for the armory of the Prince-Electors of ‘saxony in the 1570s and 1580s, many of which were sold by the Historisches Museum (now Rüstkammer) in Dresden between the world wars. This example was reputedly acquired by James M. Hodgson in a trade with the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Minich, around 1950.

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