A Very Rare Scottish Snaphaunce Pistol by Richard Low of Dundee. 17 ½” overall, multi- stage12” steel barrel with raised mouldings & canon turned muzzle, standing rear sight. Three panels extensively engraved & inlaid with brass & latten, including crest, coat of arms with rampant lions, under the initials ‘SVO’ . Finely engraved brass stock with fish tail butt, border line engraved, the flat surfaces finely engraved with strapwork enclosing fern patterns & Celtic flower heads. Iron peg trigger. Bevelled brass engraved left handed lock plate with ‘R.L.’ initials for Robert Low. Retaining the original lock mechanisms.
Circa 1610-20.
In good condition. Minor old repaired cracks to stock, belt hook removed & holes filled. Cock and frizzen are modern museum reversible replacements. Later ramrod.
James Low was admitted freeman in Dundee on 2 October 1593.
Scottish snaphaunce pistols are of the greatest rarity, and the 'fish-tail' butt is one of the most difficult to find as most surviving examples are now in public collections. Dated examples range between 1598 and 1645.
See ‘The Swords and The Sorrows’, exhibition catalogue, cat. no. 5:9, p. 67 and ‘Great British Gunmakers 1540-1740’, pp. 70-71.
This pistol is similar to two pairs, each bearing the mark attributed to James Low. The first, made for King Louis XIII of France, dated 1611& is in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. nos. LH325/6), the second is dated 1626 on the barrels and 1624 on the locks is in the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove (inv. nos. 4045 H/I.) A further pair (dated 1622, and with maker's mark 'AG') was formerly in the W. Keith Neal Collection. Low is almost certainly the maker of the only two surviving all-metal Scottish long guns, respectively in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. no. LH 419), and the Royal Armouries, Leeds (inv. no. XII. 1786).