FINE CASED PAIR OF 18 BORE PERCUSSION DOUBLE BARRELLED OFFICER'S PISTOLS BY DAVID GASS, LONDON
NUMBERED 166, CIRCA 1825-35
Auction: Property from the Earls of Airlie | Wed 3rd Sept at 10am | Lots 1 to 44
Description
with browned damascus steel sighted barrels engraved 'David Glass, 42 &43 Oxford St, London' in script on the top flat and with silver bead fore-sight, case-hardened breeches with platinum line and pierced platinum plug, border engraved tangs decorated with foliate scrollwork, border and foliate engraved locks each signed in capitals ‘David Gass’ and with safety-catch engaging with the back of the foliate engraved dolphin hammer, figured three-quarter stocks each with chequered rounded butt, blued trigger-guards and turned ramrod-pipes, the former each with pineapple finial and decorated with foliate scrollwork on the border engraved bow and each with small escutcheon numbered ‘166’, silver barrel bolt escutcheons, vacant white-metal chamfered square escutcheons, stirrup ramrods, and much of their original finish, in original lined and fitted brass-mounted mahogany case lined in green baize, with accessories including brass-mounted powder flask, regulation bullet mould and rammer, the interior of the lid with illustrated maker's trade label ‘Gass, 42 & 43 Oxford Street', the exterior with fold flat brass carry handle, the barrels 7inches; together with THE REMNANTS OF A CASED PAIR OF SCOTTISH 15 BORE TRAVELLING PISTOLS, only the case and one pistol remaining, octagonal barrel with gold lines, the top flat of the barrel signed ‘Innes, Gun Maker to His Majesty, Edin.’, much shattered (2)
Dimensions
the case 44cm long, 22cm wide
Provenance
Property from the Earls of Airlie
Footnote
David Gass is recorded having his gun and pistol repository at 42-3 Oxford Street, London, circa 1808-35.
Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the 1968 Firearms Act, to be held as a curiosity or ornament