SNAP-LOCK RIFLE

English, ca. 1815, hunting weapon, William Westley Richards, Birmingham / London.
Bronzed round barrel (L 91 cm), Cal.19 mm, octagonal chamber half, marks struck in silver "WESTLEY RICHARDS", "bundle of sheaves". Lock with external striking spring, mark: P.STEVA (J. Pedro Esteva, Barcelona), so-called 'rain pan', lock plate and cock with decorative engravings. Brass mount, trigger guard with hand rest, butt plate, three ramrod sleeves. Walnut half-stock, Madrilene butt, somewhat carved, ornamental decoration, baleen ramrod with horn tip.
L 128 cm.

An elegant, very well-preserved Spanish-style hunting rifle, which appears to be unused and was made by the founder of the famous Westley Richards company in Birmingham, using a lock from the renowned gunsmith dynasty of Esteva, Barcelona. High-grade Spanish hunting rifles were popular throughout Europe until ca. 1800 and were also readily copied. Cf. Eugène Heer: Der Neue Støckel, Schwäbisch Hall 1968, Vol. I, pp. 347-348, II, pp. 1040-1041.