A 22 BORE ITALIAN ROMAN-LOCK SPORTING GUN BY G.B. CROCE, SECOND QUARTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY with

A 22 BORE ITALIAN ROMAN-LOCK SPORTING GUN BY G.B. CROCE, SECOND QUARTER OF THE 18TH CENTURY with tapering sighted barrel engraved with scrolls on the flat, stamped with the barrelsmith`s mark `Coma`, applied with a silver profile within a brass wreath carried by a trophy-of-arms (rubbed), moulded and engraved `no16` over the breech, engraved tang numbered `5`, engraved rounded lock signed on a scroll, chiselled with scrolling tendrils on the tail and the cock, figured walnut half-stock carved with leafy mouldings over the fore-end and about the tang (small chips), brass mounts cast and chased with strapwork and scrolling tendrils in the Brescian manner, including trigger-guard with acanthus finial, side-plate, butt-plate and escutcheon all decorated with silver profiles (rubbed), steel sling swivels, horn fore-end cap, and horn-tipped wooden ramrod, probably the original 114cm; 44 7/8in barrel Giovan Battista Croce is recorded in Milan circa 1756.