160 - A pair of silver-mounted saddle flintlock pistols

A pair of silver-mounted saddle flintlock pistols dating: First half of the 19th Century provenance: Turkey, Smoothbore, two-stage, octagonal and round barrels, with acanthus-leaf mouldings at the girdle and moulded muzzle at the nozzle. The first segment with engraved borders at the breech, followed by five deeply stamped marks imitating Neapolitan barrel proof marks, and floral decorations near the mouldings at the girdle. 16.5 mm cal at the nozzle. The tangs engraved with floral motifs in the European style and, at the centre, a crescent moon between four stars. English-style locks with flat lock plates and recessed tails; both plates bearing the marking "IONDON WARANTED" (sic!), together with small engravings and decorative lines. Working mechanisms (although requiring revision). Full wooden stocks with signs of use and age, featuring the characteristic rib beneath the fore-end, imitating a ramrod; one stock with an old repair at the fore-end tip, the other intact but with a small missing part beside the lock and another at the fore-end tip. The backs of both stocks finely carved with scrolling foliage, the same decoration repeated on the fore-ends. The grips with fine silver-wire inlays. The pistols fitted with remarkable silver mounts (unmarked). The pommel caps richly worked in relief with flowers and castle landscapes in the European style. The escutcheons on the backs also depicting rural landscapes with visible town walls. The trigger guards adorned with flowers in high relief. The side plates likewise decorated with European-style landscapes and floral motifs. Elegant pistols in fair to good condition, certainly deserving of appropriate restoration to restore them to their original splendour. Probably of local manufacture, executed in the European style for a prominent Ottoman gentleman.