‡ A FINE PAIR OF 18 BORE FRENCH SILVER-MOUNTED FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOLS BY POITEVIN LAINE A

‡ A FINE PAIR OF 18 BORE FRENCH SILVER-MOUNTED FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOLS BY POITEVIN LAINE A ANGOULEME, NANTES DISCHARGE MARK, 1746 each with blued Spanish barrel formed in two stages, fitted with silver ‘spider’ fore-sight struck with the gold-lined barrelsmith’s mark of Juan Santos (Neue Støckel 982 and 8190) and five decorative gold-lined cross marks, engraved iron tang, stepped bevelled lock signed within a rococo frame, chiselled and engraved en rocaille against a finely matted gilt ground, fitted with bevelled cock, top-jaw, faceted pan and steel all engraved and gilt en suite (light wear, very small areas of light pitting), full stock carved with vine fruit and foliage about the rear ramrod-pipe and further foliage about the tang (one fore-end cracked in the ramrod channel), full silver mounts cast and chased en rocaille and retaining traces of gilding, comprising spurred pommel decorated on each side with a cockerel and a lion and fitted with grotesque mask cap, trigger-guard with scrolls and shells on the bow and charged with a crescent on a sunburst ground on the finial, solid side-plate with rococo scrolls and foliage inhabited by a lion, a pair of ramrod-pipes, engraved iron trigger-plates, and each with its silver-tipped ramrod, probably the original, 21.2 cm barrels (2) This maker is recorded in Angouleme and Paris, circa 1745-51