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A Rare Pair Of 18-Bore Flintlock Over-And-Under Holster Pistols image 1
A Rare Pair Of 18-Bore Flintlock Over-And-Under Holster Pistols image 2
A Rare Pair Of 18-Bore Flintlock Over-And-Under Holster Pistols image 3
Lot 169

A Rare Pair Of 18-Bore Flintlock Over-And-Under Holster Pistols
By James Barbar Of London, Circa 1765

24 June – 8 July 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £4,096 inc. premium

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A Rare Pair Of 18-Bore Flintlock Over-And-Under Holster Pistols
By James Barbar Of London, Circa 1765

With two-stage sighted barrels each slightly flared at the muzzle, part octagonal breeches each signed along the top and with foliage at the rear, foliate engraved tangs, locks each signed across the rounded border engraved tail and with external main and steel-springs, moulded figured butts each carved with a shell behind the barrel tang, trigger-guards each with diminutive acorn finial and engraved with a flower-head on the bow, spurred pommels each with silver grotesque-mask butt-cap, silver escutcheons each engraved with owner's crest and motto, and side-mounted ramrods, one original (steel parts worn), London proof marks and Barbar's barrelsmith's mark (2)
22.5 cm. barrels

Footnotes

For two similar pairs sold from the W. Keith Neal Collection see Christie's London, Fine Antique Firearms from the W. Keith Neal Collection, 8 November 1995, lot 272, and 9 November 2000, lot 242

James 1 Barbar, son of Lewis, was apprenticed to his father in 1714, free of the Gunmakers' Company in 1722, and elected Master in 1742. Appointed Gentleman Armourer to King George II in 1741, he died in 1773

The arms and motto appear to be that of the Kennedy family of Ayrshire, Scotland, possibly the Earls of Cassilis, later Marquesses of Ailsa




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