A FINE CASED PAIR OF 28 BORE FLINTLOCK DUELLING PISTOLS BY JOHN BARTON, CIRCA 1805

A FINE CASED PAIR OF 28 BORE FLINTLOCK DUELLING PISTOLS BY JOHN BARTON, CIRCA 1805 with slightly swamped octagonal rebrowned twist barrels signed 'J. Barton, London' in script on the flats, struck with view mark beneath the breeches, the barrelsmith's mark 'IB', two pellets including the numeral '1' on one barrel, gold-lined vents, border-engraved case-hardened tangs incorporating the back-sights and decorated with scrolls and flowers and a band of foliage behind the breeches, signed stepped bevelled locks engraved with foliage on the tails, signed beneath the pans and with starbursts above, fitted with engraved bevelled cocks, gold-lined semi-rainproof pans, bolt safety-catches, and steel springs with rollers, highly figured walnut full stocks, flat-sided butts cut with a diamond-shaped trellis design enclosing minute flowerheads, blued iron mounts comprising border-engraved trigger-guards decorated with a central bouquet and with pineapple finials, and a pair of ramrod-pipes, and each with its original ramrod, one with Wogdon type iron powder-measure and worm and the other with horn tip: in their original fitted mahogany case, the lid (bruised) with circular escutcheon incorporating a semi-circular carrying handle, the interior lined in green baize (areas of wear and small moth holes, the lid with trade label for 14 Haymarket and complete with accessories including copper three-way flask, bullet mould, turnscrew and mainspring clamp 25,.5 cm; 10 in barrels Provenance Christie's, South Kensington 20th November 1996, lot 332 B. G. S. Coles Collection Literature John O'Sullivan & De Witt Bailey, Robert Wogdon, Wogdon & Barton, John Barton, London Gunmakers 1764-1819, London 2019, p. 191 cat. no. DP1. John Barton apprenticed to Robert Wogdon and became his partner in 1794, working as Wogdon & Barton until 1803. Following this he worked under his own name until 1819. Firearms by him from this later period are comparatively rare. For a full account of his life see O'Sullivan & De Witt Bailey, op. cit., pp. 32-40.