341
341 A 32 BORE SOUTH GERMAN WHEEL-LCOK HOLSTER PISTOL, AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1580-90 with swamped barrel formed in two stages, stamped with Augsburg town mark and the barrelsmith’s mark over the breech (Neue Støckel 6477), flat lock retained by two side nails (one replaced), fitted with external wheel retained by a pierced engraved bracket, engraved dog, safety-catch, and sliding pan-cover, blackened full stock inlaid with engraved staghorn panels between horn lines, the border with ropework and foliage, a pair of hippocampi opposite the lock, compressed spherical pommel inlaid with flowerhead rondels between further bands of foliage and horn lines (the inlay with minor repairs and restorations), iron trigger-guard, ramrod-pipe engraved with a grotesque and staghorn fore-end cap engraved with foliage (later ramrod) 31.5cm; 12 1/2in barrel
156
This pistol forms part of a large group decorated in this manner, the majority of which are stamped with Augsburg marks and a number also have the same barrelsmith’s mark. Others are preserved in the Landeszeughaus, Graz; The Bayerischen Nationalsmuseum, Munich; and The Collection of the Princes Odescalchi, Rome. Another large group of decorated pistols with the same barrelsmiths marks are preserved in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva. See R. Brooker 2007, pp. 231-255; N. di Carpegna 1969, no.473; E. Schalkhauser 1988, pp. 107-8; and J. A.,Godoy 1993, nos. 66, 67, 84-87, 105, 106, 111, 115-117, 121, 123, and 124. £13000-18000