FINE PAIR OF PRE REVOLUTIONARY WAR SILVER MOUNTED OFFICER’S OR DUELING PISTOLS BY W. HENSHAW.

Cal 62.
NSN.
Bbl. 8″

William Henshaw was working in London between 1762-1790. Silver mounts on these pistols have 1772 date stamp. Pistols have 8″ iron bbls. w/ oct. breech sections which transition through fancy wedding band to swamped & flared muzzles. Top flats engraved “W HENSHAW”. Top left flats stamped w/ London gun maker’s proofs & crowned “F” bbl. maker’s mark. Barrels do not have patent breeches & breech plug tangs engraved w/ well detailed scrolls of acanthus. Locks w/ chamfered plates have long rebated tails & fitted w/ serpentine cocks, integral pans, bridled frizzens & feather springs w/ bulbous finials having teats. Walnut stocks extend to muzzles & are pinned to bbls. There is raised shell carving w/ beads around bbl. tangs. Pistols are silver mounted w/ grotesque face butt caps, dbl. beaded trigger guards w/ shell finials, pierced sideplates w/ armorial decoration & lg. escutcheons at grips. Butt caps & trigger guard tangs are hallmarked for sterling, 1772, and “I. K.” (John King). Greenheart ramrods w/ horn tips (one w/ steel worm on tail) mount through silver beaded pipes & matching thimbles.

STATUS: ANTIQUE