This exceptional gun is described in detail in W. Keith Neal's "Spanish Guns and Pistols", pp. 23-24: "There is an exceptional gun made by Fernando Olave of Placentia, a contemporary of Bustindui and famed for his barrels, which is equal to the best work turned out in Madrid. This gun is in the Madrid style and was made about the year 1805. The mounts are of steel deeply chiseled in the style and quality equal to the best work done in France or Italy one hundred years earlier. The barrel is richly inlaid with gold, part of the breech being entirely covered with gold. The decoration on the barrel shows doves carrying the olive branch surmounted with the rising sun and scrolls and arabesques. The walnut stock is carved with vines and tendrils in the very finest manner. In the butt is a spring cover which when opened discloses the steel box. Inside this box is a combination tool which performs the function of turnscrew, touch-hole picker, strike-a-light, scourer for the face of the pan-cover and hammer for trimming a flint. In addition there is a detachable worm which fits the ramrod for withdrawing a load. This set of implements is made in the same fine quality as the rest of the gun. The gun is signed on the barrel with the marks of the maker, his name and a rampant lion. On the lock is his name in full in gold and again in full on the trigger-guard. This gun is the last word in fine production and compares with the best work of Boutet and of the finest artists to be found anywhere in Europe." While the gun is not illustrated, Olave’s maker's marks are shown on p. 100 of Neal’s book. Whether Norman R. Blank already owned this superb gun when W. Keith Neal described it in 1955 or subsequently obtained it, possibly from or via Neal, is unclear. The barrel of another gun with similar decoration by Olave is shown in Frederick Wilkinson, "Antique Arms and Armor", p. 33. Expanding on W. Keith Neal's description, the smoothbore barrel is blued in addition to the ornate gold work which includes two stamped and gilt fleurs-de-lis, and has a gold blade front sight with gold spider base with foliate motifs; and fine chiseled transition point with gilt backgrounds. The coordinating blued standing breech has a grooved rear sight. The burnished lock has chiseled and engraved floral, scroll, and mask motifs, a seated figure on the frizzen, and gold-lined priming-pan and frizzen. The trigger-guard has additional chiseled figures to the front and rear, the forward figure's legs forming the front of the trigger-guard which are pierced and chiseled in the round, the inner aspect of the trigger-guard revealing the figure’s naked buttocks, putti holding a raised panel with the maker's name in gold, scrollwork, coordinating gold inlays, and a finely scrolled grip extension reminiscent of a coil-spring. The side-plate has scrolls with masks, a lamb and two figures. The Madrid-style half-stock has a blued steel forearm cap with gold floral work en suite with the barrel decor, fine checkering to the wrist and forearm, molding, elaborate raised relief floral carving, and the noted compartment in the steel heel-plate containing a combination tool, and a figure, possibly the Angel of Death, above a figure of a man with raised sword and waving a tricorn hat in front of a cast naked man. The butt-trap contains a cylindrical steel container within which is housed a burnished steel combination tool. The replacement wooden ramrod has a bone tip. Provenance: The Norman R. Blank Collection