A Very Fine & Rare Cased Pair of Flintlock Duelling Pistols by Barton.15 ¼” overall, 10” slightly swamped octagonal twist 28 bore barrels signed 'Barton, London' in script on the flats, struck with view mark beneath the breeches & the barrelsmith's mark 'IB', two pellets including the numeral '1' on one barrel, gold lined vents, border engraved case hardened tangs incorporating the back sights & decorated with scrolls & flowers & a band of foliage behind the breeches. Stepped bevelled locks signed ‘Barton’, engraved with foliage on the tails, signed beneath the pans & with starbursts above. Fitted with engraved bevelled cocks, gold lined semi-rainproof gull wing pans, bolt safety catches & steel springs with rollers. Highly figured walnut full stocks, flat-sided butts cut with a diamond shaped trellis design enclosing minute flowerheads, blued iron mounts comprising border engraved trigger guards decorated with a Union flag on foliage with pineapple finials, & a pair of ramrod pipes, each with its original ramrod; one with Wogdon type iron powder measure & worm, the other with horn tip. In their original green baize lined fitted mahogany caddy top Chippendale case, the lid with inset carrying handle, with a complete set of original accessories including red leather three-way flask, bullet mould, loading rod, oil bottle, turnscrew & mainspring clamp.
Circa 1805
Pistols in near mint condition, crisp engraving; case and accessories also in very good condition.
BARTON John Gunmaker (formerly Wogdon & Barton) 14 Haymarket, 1803-16; 5 St. James’s St., Haymarket, 1816-19. Howard L. Blackmore (1986) Gunmakers Of London, 1350-1850.
Pistols illustrated in John O'Sullivan & De Witt Bailey, ‘Robert Wogdon & Barton, John Barton, London Gunmakers 1764-1819’, 2019, page 194.
From The Peter Frazer Collection.