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Tom Lewis Collectio
LOT 367 dog has a bestial design, and the other external components are also mainly Documented Beautiful High Art Engraved Wheellock Sporting Gun with gilded. “709 27” is marked in red on the reverse of the lower jaw. The pan, pan Gilt Metal Accents and Gorgeous Polychrome Scrimshaw Decorated cover, and internals were polished bright, and the cover has a lion mask design. Stock - NSN, 54 cal., 32 5/8 inch part octagon bbl., blue/silver/gold finish, The trigger guard also has gilt accents. While the metal work is phenomenal, cherry stock. This beautiful late 16th century type wheellock sporting gun is it is the embellishment of the stock that is truly the most extraordinary. The
highly embellished from the muzzle to the butt in Renaissance high art style with Roman classical motifs on both the metal and stock. It is item 43 on pages 114-117 of “Decorated Firearms, 1540-1870, from the Collection of Clay P. Bedford” by Gusler and Lavin where it is noted as from the William Randolph Hearst collection and as from c. 1570. The two-stage, smoothbore barrel has
a gilt blade front sight at the muzzle, an interesting gilt “block” rear sight with an internal covered notch for shorter range shooting and a top sight groove for longer range shooting, and ornamentation covering basically all of the visible surfaces consisting of engraved and gold and silver inlaid classical figures, birds, and floral patterns. The barrel was finished in fire blue and has a slight flare at the muzzle. The flat lock plate and the domed wheel cover have coordinating floral patterns in gold and silver and heat blue finish. The gilt
stock has extensive staghorn/bone inlays along the whole length to the extent that the stock wood provides a sparse background for the exceptional inlays which consist of a wide variety of designs. Throughout the stock are floral
and fruit designs, including rare polychromatic elements mainly consisting of green tinted accents. Among the designs in the forend are several lions and
lion masks, a nude female figure at the ramrod entry point by the forend tip, a female figure with a sword pointed at her heart near the middle of the forend, and a male soldier with large sword on the bottom ahead of the lock. These female figures are noted in the book as Lucretia and Fortune. The buttstock section has renditions of Geometria, Venus, Spes, and Mercury along the bottom (all labeled) along with nude female busts on the sides of each vignette.
From the Esteemed
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