A MID-18TH CENTURY SCOTTISH ALL METAL FLINT LOCK HEART BUTT BELT PISTOL ‡
BY JAMES MCKENZIE OF BRECHIN
Auction: Day 2: Thursday 21 August - Lots 297 - end
Description
signed to lock ‘JAMES MCKENZIE’, the all metal construction with crescent-shaped lock, with the flat cock with capstan-shaped top jaw screw, the grip terminating in a plain heart butt, the three-stage barrel with three plain raised bands along and slightly flared muzzle, with simple ball trigger with matching pricker plain ramrod pipe and steel ramrod with turned and flat end, with elongated simple belt hook
Dimensions
16cm long (barrel), 25cm long (overall length)
Provenance
The John Kirk Collection
Footnote
James McKenzie was a gunsmith admitted as a Burgess of Brechin in 1728, the son of James McKenzie, variously called a shoe or heel maker. He entered the Guildry in 1738, presumably after his apprenticeship and was recorded as a brewer, maltster and merchant. These titles did not preclude him from working in other trades and perhaps as a merchant he traded in guns made locally.
Note: Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the 1968 Firearms Act, to be held as a curiosity or ornament