A Rare Rifled 60-Bore Flintlock PistolLate 17th CenturyWith two-stage barrel with muzzle-ring, rifled with eight grooves and fitted with hinged retaining link, octagonal breech becoming polygonal, plain tang, rounded lock retaining very faint traces of maker's signature and engraved foliate decoration, the latter terminating in a monster-head on the tail, foliate engraved rounded cock, moulded figured rootwood half-stock (some damage and repairs) with apron around the barrel tang, iron mounts comprising foliate scroll side-plate, shaped vacant escutcheon, spurred rounded pommel with screw terminal, and trigger-guard with rounded pointed finial (iron parts worn and with surface pitting), London proof marks and indistinct maker's mark 17 cm. barrelFootnotes:ProvenanceThe Dr. Robert Rabett Collection, sold in these Rooms, 20 November 2011, lot 543ExhibitedThe City of Rochester-upon-Medway Guildhall Museum Rochester, The Craft Of The Gunmaker 1640-1870, August 1991 - January 1992, cat. no. 45. illustratedFor a related pair of pistols see Christie's London, Fine Antique Firearms from the W. Keith Neal Collection, 9 November 2000, lot 210