Thomas Shaw-Owens
Associate Specialist
Lot 73
An Exceptional Pair Of French 18-Bore Flintlock Gold-Mounted Holster Pistols For Presentation To An Ottoman Or North African PotentateBy Vigniat A Marseille, Goldsmith's Mark Of Claude Coppin, French Provincial Hallmarks For 1798-1809
24 June – 8 July 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, KnightsbridgeSold for £23,040 inc. premium
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An Exceptional Pair Of French 18-Bore Flintlock Gold-Mounted Holster Pistols For Presentation To An Ottoman Or North African Potentate
By Vigniat A Marseille, Goldsmith's Mark Of Claude Coppin, French Provincial Hallmarks For 1798-1809
By Vigniat A Marseille, Goldsmith's Mark Of Claude Coppin, French Provincial Hallmarks For 1798-1809
With two-stage sighted cannon barrels each engraved and gilt towards the muzzle with trophies, stars, a sunburst and a crescent moon, the breech sections each chiselled in relief with flower-heads and foliage, the former each picked out in gold and all against a finely punched gilt ground, tangs each chiselled with a further starburst and foliage, signed rounded locks each chiselled in relief with differing martial trophies against a gilt ground, gold-lined touch-holes and gilt pans, cocks and steels en suite with the locks, rollers, figured full stocks each carved in relief with a shell behind the barrel tang and inlaid overall with gold and silver wire scrollwork, stars, flower-heads and a crescent, solid gold mounts cast and chased in relief and comprising side-plates incorporating designs of trophies and cannon, trigger-guards each with finial formed as a cornucopia and with rosette, foliage, and a crossed axe and scimitar on the bow, spurred pommels each with further trophies, stars, and foliage, turned ramrod-pipes, original horn-tipped ramrods, and in fine condition (2)
32.1 cm. barrels
32.1 cm. barrels
Footnotes
Provenance
Charles Draeger Collection
Sotheby's Monaco, Armes Anciennes: Collection Charles Draeger, 7 December 1987, lot 130
Czerny's Sarzana, Fine Antique Arms and Armour, 19 December 2020, lot 372
Cf. a related pair of pistols by the same maker with silver mounts, Christie's King Street, Fine Antique Arms and Armour, 27 October 1993, lot 326; and another, with silver-gilt mounts, Sotheby's London, Splendour: The Philippe Missillier Collection of Islamic & Indian Arms and Armour, 29 April 2025, lot 127
