John Fox Twigg (1732-1790) was one of the greatest late 18th century English gunmakers and was particularly noted as a maker of fine dueling pistols. He formed a partnership with his nephew John Bass (1761-1794) in 1788 which only lasted two years due to his death. Bass had worked with Twigg before becoming a partner and continued the business by himself prior to his own untimely death late in 1794. Twigg's "natural" and only son, also John (b. 1774), was still a minor and apprenticed to Henry Nock when his father died. The business was sold to John Manton, Twigg's former foreman, in 1795. Manton had left to establish his own shop nearby in 1781. Note how similar the pistols are to the pairs by Twigg shown as Figures 134 and 135 in "Great British Gunmakers, 1740-1790: The History of John Twigg and the Packington Guns" by Neal and Black, pictured on page 10 of "London Gunmakers and the English Duelling Pistol, 1770-1830" by Dill, and the Manton pistols shown as Figure 13 in "The Mantons: Gunmakers" by Neal and Black. The engraving on the tangs and frizzen of the current pair and the one shown as Figure 135 are essentially identical. The Manton pair has only slightly different checkering patterns and of course the Manton markings. The famous Swiss-born gunmaker Durs Egg also worked for Twigg in the 1770s and his dueling pistols also have similarities. All of these pistols date to the 1780s, but Twigg also manufactured somewhat similar dueling pistols at least as early as the 1770s around the time the use of pistols in duels grew in popularity. The English enthusiastically took to dueling with pistols, but the practice died out early in the Victorian Era unlike elsewhere in Europe. The slightly tapered Damascus barrels have dovetailed brass blade front sights, dovetailed notch rear sights, "Twigg" in script followed by "LONDON" in block letters on the tops, John Twigg's barrel mark between London proof and view marks on the bottoms, and gold-lined touch hole liners. The detented locks have "Twigg" at center, sliding safeties with pins that secure the frizzen closed, semi-waterproof pans, and frizzen rollers. They are secured by single lock screws. The stocks have Twigg's distinctive checkering on the wrists and his molding design on the tail of the flats. The trigger guards have acorn finials and enclose single set triggers. They come in an oak case with English fit interior containing a red leather wrapped powder flask, oiler, brushes, cleaning rod, a couple lead balls, a wad of tow, couple of old patches, screwdriver, and bullet mold.

Very good as professionally restored and reconverted with most of the brown finish on the barrel, recut signatures, attractive Damascus twist patterns, minor edge and handling wear, traces of original blue on the ramrod pipes, otherwise gray and brown patina, and a few hints of slight spotting. The stock is fine and has minor repairs and a chip at the front of the forend, barely perceptible repaired tension crack at the rear lock screw, some minor dings and light scratches, and crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent. The case and accessories are fine and have moderate storage wear including some cracking on the bottom of the case.

See A.

Very good as professionally restored and reconverted with most of the brown finish on the lock and barrel, recut signatures, distinct Damascus twist patterns, some slight spotting and small nicks, minor edge and handling wear, gray patina on the upper tang, gray and brown patina on the trigger guard, and traces of original blue on the ramrod pipes. The stock is fine and has cracks and repairs in the forend, a tension crack at the rear lock screw, some minor dings and light scratches, and crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent. This is an overall very attractive pair of high end English dueling pistols manufactured relatively early in the evolution of the English dueling pistol by one of London's finest gunmakers and is sure to find a welcome place in any advanced collection.