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LOT 3334
Incredibly Scarce Documented
Engraved, Silver Mounted and 1781 Dated
Chelembrom Magazine Repeating Flintlock Sporting Gun with Bayonet - NSN, 40 Bore cal., 34
1/2 inch part octagon bbl., brown/gold/silver/bright finish, walnut stock. Dated 1781 in silver on the
barrel, this exceedingly rare repeating flintlock was made by a gunsmith called Chelembrom (or Chalembrom),
believed to be a Frenchman working at Pondichery in India. A contemporary of General Claude Martin, another French gunmaker who worked under the British in India, little is known about Chelembrom unlike Martin. Howard L. Blackmore notes three Chelembrom in his writings, namely the present gun, an example dated 1785 in the Musee de l’Armee, Paris and the last in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (no. L413) which is from the collection of King George III. Blackmore notes the existence of two Indian craftsman-made copies of Chelembrom guns, one again in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (no. L430) and another
in the Dr. Funderburg Collection in the USA. Another Indian-made copy
from the armoury of Tipo Sultan was sold at auction in the UK in
2019. Blackmore notes in “Royal Sporting Guns at Windsor” (p. 50) the operation as follows: “With the muzzle pointing upwards the barrel and its magazines are turned in a clockwise direction. This movement leads
to the following chain of events. A charge of powder is measured into
the dropping tube and a small portion is deposited in the priming pan which is then closed and the lock cocked. The rest of the powder falls into a chamber in the brass receiver. At the same time a bullet is released and drops into a covered trough. The barrel is moved further round until it is opposite the bullet, which is thrust upwards into the barrel by a plunger or spring. The gun is then reversed and the barrel assembly turned back to its original position. The mouth of the barrel with its seated bullet
then lies opposite a chamber full of powder.”Taking inspiration from
late 17th century repeating guns by Lorenzoni and Callin, Chelembrom reintroduced the system in the 1780s. Blackmore further notes that whilst the action of this type of gun “... is basically safe in that the powder- magazine is detached from the point of ignition, it is so complicated that it is easily put out of action.”
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