Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

A Cased Pair Of Scottish 50-Bore Percussion Duelling Or Target Pistols By Alex.r Martin, Glasgow, Mid-19th Century
The medals and associate ephemera and uniforms of Arthur Watts, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons
A Pair Of Highland All-Metal Percussion Belt Pistols Signed Paton & Walsh Perth, Mid 19th century
A Silver-Mounted Left-Hand Dagger, probably German, Italian or English Late 16th Century Or Later
FOUR REPRODUCTION CARVED POWDER HORNS/FLASKS.late 20th century.
THREE CARVED COCONUT ITEMS.18th/19th century.
A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE AND REPRODUCTION POWDER FLASKS AND RELATED SPORTING ITEMS.
THREE VICTORIAN ARMS AND ARMOUR DECORATIVE ITEMS.
Previous Lot
Next Lot
Lot 515

An Extremely Rare Pair Of 22-Bore Double Flintlock Single-Trigger Turn-Off Pistols For Certainty Of Fire
By Lewis (Louis) Barbar, London, Circa 1740

Amended
Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria Including property from the Mark and Peter Dineley Collections
27 November 2019, 10:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £7,562.50 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Arms and Armour specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

An Extremely Rare Pair Of 22-Bore Double Flintlock Single-Trigger Turn-Off Pistols For Certainty Of Fire
By Lewis (Louis) Barbar, London, Circa 1740

With turn-off cannon barrels, border engraved breeches each signed beneath, decorated with foliage at the rear and with three graduated spheres along the top, border engraved tangs decorated with foliage and each with retaining screw behind the trefoil (one replaced) extending over the breech, border engraved action, cocks (both on one pistol replaced, top jaws and screws on the other replaced) and steels (one an old replacement, both on the other pistol refaced), mainspring and trigger operating both cocks simultaneously and firing the same charge, chiselled steel-springs, moulded figured rounded butts (old repairs) each carved with a shell behind the barrel tang, trigger-guards each engraved with a decorative oval on the bow, cast and chased silver mounts comprising foliate escutcheons each engraved with owner's monogram, and border engraved spurred pommels each with grotesque mask butt-cap within a border of scrolls and shells (some wear and rust patination), London proof marks and Lewis Barbar's barrelsmith's mark (3)
16.5 cm. barrels

Footnotes

Provenance
Sotheby & Co., London, Highly Important Firearms from the collection of the late William Goodwin Renwick (European, Part III), 19 March 1973 (offered with a copy of the sale catalogue)

W.G. Renwick (1886-1971), of Tucson, Arizona, acquired his interest in antique firearms as a boy, and formed most of his collection between the two World Wars. He made many trips to Europe, and purchased some of his finest pieces from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. At the time of his death his collection numbered over 1,500 items, nearly all of which were sold in a series of auctions in London and Los Angeles between 1972 and 1975, establishing new levels of value for antique firearms

Louis Barbar a French Protestant, born in Essendun, Poitou, came to London in about 1688 to avoid persecution, and was naturalised in 1700. In 1704 he was made free of the Gunmakers' Company, and his proof piece ('a very fine piece') was passed. He was appointed Gentleman Armourer to King George I in 1717, and to George II in 1727. He was Contractor to Ordnance between 1723 and 1740, the year before his death

Saleroom notices

The correct provenance for this lot is as follows: One of the pair, Clay P. Bedford Collection (Bedford 1229), Early Firearms Of Great Britain And Ireland from the collection of Clay P. Bedford, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1971, pp. 67-68, no. 60; formerly in the Joe Kindig Collection, see Lewis Winant, Firearms Curiosa, 1955, pp. 226 and 229, fig. 256

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A Cased Pair Of Scottish 50-Bore Percussion Duelling Or Target Pistols By Alex.r Martin, Glasgow, Mid-19th Century
The medals and associate ephemera and uniforms of Arthur Watts, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons
A Pair Of Highland All-Metal Percussion Belt Pistols Signed Paton & Walsh Perth, Mid 19th century
A Silver-Mounted Left-Hand Dagger, probably German, Italian or English Late 16th Century Or Later
FOUR REPRODUCTION CARVED POWDER HORNS/FLASKS.late 20th century.
THREE CARVED COCONUT ITEMS.18th/19th century.
A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE AND REPRODUCTION POWDER FLASKS AND RELATED SPORTING ITEMS.
THREE VICTORIAN ARMS AND ARMOUR DECORATIVE ITEMS.