Lot Essay
Lewis Alley is recorded in Dublin circa 1770-1783, the year of his death. For a silver-mounted gun by Alley see W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, Great British Gunmakers 1740-1790, pp. 121-2, pls. 484-7.
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BY LEWIS ALLEY, DUBLIN, CIRCA 1775
Details
A Pair Of 16-Bore Irish Silver-Mounted Flintlock Holster Pistols
By Lewis Alley, Dublin, circa 1775
With earlier sighted swamped two-stage barrels, octagonal breeches each struck with barrelsmith's mark of Michel Poncin of Lige (Neue Stckel 8076) and South Tipperary registration number, gold-lined touch-holes, flat bevelled locks each signed on a foliate scroll and with roller and stepped tail (cocks replaced), figured walnut full stocks (one apparently a working replacement) each carved with a shell behind the barrel tang, silver mounts including engraved trigger-guards (one tang repaired) with flower-head finial, and pierced side-plates chased with a fan motif and foliage, silver escutcheons engraved with flower-heads, garlands and the initials 'WB', each above an engraved iron aperture for a shoulder stock, and iron-capped ramrods (iron parts with areas of pitting)
20in. (50.8cm.) (2)
By Lewis Alley, Dublin, circa 1775
With earlier sighted swamped two-stage barrels, octagonal breeches each struck with barrelsmith's mark of Michel Poncin of Lige (Neue Stckel 8076) and South Tipperary registration number, gold-lined touch-holes, flat bevelled locks each signed on a foliate scroll and with roller and stepped tail (cocks replaced), figured walnut full stocks (one apparently a working replacement) each carved with a shell behind the barrel tang, silver mounts including engraved trigger-guards (one tang repaired) with flower-head finial, and pierced side-plates chased with a fan motif and foliage, silver escutcheons engraved with flower-heads, garlands and the initials 'WB', each above an engraved iron aperture for a shoulder stock, and iron-capped ramrods (iron parts with areas of pitting)
20in. (50.8cm.) (2)