A Pair of Flintlock Queen Anne Pistols.
With cannon barrels, one an old replacement and of 25-bore, breeches each engraved ‘London’ (refreshed) and with a band of foliage at the rear, and signed beneath the chiselled steel-springs, shaped border engraved tangs each decorated with foliage, border engraved actions (cocks and retaining screws replaced), sliding trigger-guard safety-catches each engraved with an expanded flower-head on the bow, figured rounded butts (old splits at each tang, one repaired at the rear of the action) each carved with a shell behind the barrel tang, cast and chased mounts comprising pierced foliate side-plates, foliate escutcheons each engraved with owner’s initials ‘MB’, and grotesque mask butt caps each with foliate border, London proof marks and Birkell’s barrelsmith’s mark.
