Wallis & Wallis
Lot 141
A fine and extremely rare cased pair of 36 bore flintlock duelling pistols, by James Purdey, 4 Princes Street, Leicester Square, London, numbers 764 and 765, circa 1820; 15½" overall, heavy browned octagonal twist barrels 10", the recessed breeches with platinum touch holes, single lines and "Purdey, London"poincons, the top flats engraved "I. PURDEY, PRINCES STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE, LONDON" the rearsights incorporated in the mirror engraved breech tangs; flat locks with ring neck cocks, deep rain proof pans, rollers on frizzen springs and safety bolts, the plates engraved with toothed borders and scrolls and signed "PURDEY"; nicely figured walnut halfstocks with chequered bag shaped butts and silver fore end caps, barrel wedge plates and vacant rectangular escutcheons; steel mounts including finely engraved trigger guards with stylised pineapple finials, retaining traces of original blued finish; brass mounted wooden ramrods, each with powder measure and concealed worm. Very Good Working Order and Generally Crisp Condition; contained in their green baize lined fitted mahogany case, the lid with flush fitting circular brass carrying handle and central circular escutcheon, Purdey's trade card in the lid with Princes' Street address and "From J. Manton's"; containing hickory mallet/loading rod with 2 interchangeable brass jags, steel 40 bore pincer mould, wooden handled turnscrew, steel patch punch and circular brass patch box, mainspring cramp, pewter oil bottle, stiff pan brush with hard wood handle, and key to the case. The whole in clean condition (keyhole escutcheon missing). Plates 45 and front cover Note: These pistols are reputed to have originally been sold to a Captain Miller, but no other early history is known. They were formerly in the Collection of Clay P. Bedford of Arizona and were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, appearing on pages 78 and 79 of the catalogue "Early Firearms of Great Britain and Ireland" published in 1971. They are also listed and described in Patrick Unsworth's "The Early Purdeys", in which he lists only 3 known pairs of Purdey flintlock duelling pistols, one of which was in the W. Keith Neal Collection, sold in November 2005.
