THE CAMPBELL OF CAWDOR PISTOL - AN EARLY 18TH CENTURY SCOTTISH BRASS, STEEL AND SILVER INLAID FLINTLOCK BELT PISTOL ‡
POSSIBLY KENNETH MCLEOD (MCCLAUDE) OF PERTH, CIRCA 1720
Auction: Day 2: Thursday 21 August - Lots 297 - end
Description
signed to lock ‘K.MCLF’, the full brass stock finely engraved with Celtic interlace and knotwork, with silver rosettes inlaid and with heraldic motifs, initialled to underside of the barrel S.L.C, with steel ramrod and brass trigger, the ram's horn butt with tightly coiled horns inlaid in silver with crest and motto within banner, with silver rose head engraved pricker, the long steel belt hook with twisted and pierced detail, the barrel a later continental steel replacement
Dimensions
28cm long (Barrel), 41cm long (overall length)
Provenance
Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria, Thomas Del Mar (Olympia Auctions), 26th June 2007, lot 267
The John Kirk Collection
Footnote
References:
Scottish Arms Makers. Charles E. Whitelaw, page 267
The Scottish Pistol, Its History Manufacture and design, Martin Kelvin page 159
Heraldry:
Crests: (Left above) A swan proper (ensigned with an earl’s coronet)
(Right above) A swan proper crowned or
Motto: Be mindfull
Note:
Little is recorded of Kenneth McLeod (McClaude) of Perth, he was apprentice to John Smith III in Perth from 1674 no further records appear from his working life.
Most likely commissioned by John Campbell of Cawdor in the County of Perthshire (1695-1777). He was the son of Sir Alexander Campbell and his wife, Elizabeth Lort. He married Mary Pryse (1704-1773) at the Parish Church of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey in the City of London on the 30th April 1726. She was the daughter and co-heiress of Lewis Pryse, of Gogirthen in the County of Carnarvonshire. He sat in the House of Commons at Westminster as the Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire (1727-47), the Inverness Burghs (1754-61) and for Corfe Castle (1762-68).
Note: Sold as an exempt item under Section 58 (2) of the 1968 Firearms Act, to be held as a curiosity or ornament