A 34 BORE COMPOSITE GERMAN BREECH-LOADING SELF-SPANNING WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER SPORTING CARBINE, LATE 16TH CENTURY AND LATER with two-stage blued sighted barrel chiselled and gilt with foliage at the muzzle, median and breech, the latter with Augsburg town mark and fitted with hinged breech-cover decorated en suite with the muzzle and the median, released by a pair of pivoting catches on the tang, blued flat lock plate fitted with external wheel retained by a blued bracket and faced with an openwork engraved brass panel decorated with masks, engraved dog, ebonised full stock inlaid with engraved staghorn panels decorated with scrollwork, a pair of unicorns and a pair of horses opposite the lock, brass trigger guard and ramrod with engraved staghorn tip, complete with a brass cartridge (extensive restorations, including elements of the breech and lock and most of the stock decoration) 75.0 cm; 29 1/2 in barrel A pistol built on this system and perhaps the inspiration for the present carbine was formerly in the collection of the Lord Astor of Hever, sold in this room 30th July 2020, lot 246.