ËœA FINE PAIR OF .500 CALIBRE BOHEMIAN PERCUSSION RIFLED TARGET PISTOLS BY ANTON VINCENT LEBEDA, PRAGUE, CIRCA 1850 with octagonal blued barrels rifled with eight grooves, inlaid with a gold line around the muzzles and fitted with blued fore-sights, chamfered over the medians, engraved at each end and signed in full in gold script between gold neo-gothic panels, numbered '1' and '2' respectively and with further neo-gothic panels and foliage behind, fitted with moulded percussion bolsters with pierced platinum plugs beneath, engraved case-hardened breech tangs numbered en suite and incorporating blued adjustable back-sights, each decorated with a green man mask enclosed by elaborate foliage on a punched ground and enriched with gold, engraved case-hardened flush-fitting stepped locks signed in gold, decorated and numbered en suite with the breeches, the forward portions with differing scenes including a reclining satyr being serenaded, fitted with engraved case-hardened slender hammers with pierced bellies formed as a demi flowerhead, decorated with further foliage issuant from wolves heads and with a demon mask beneath, ebony half-stocks carved with demon heads in the round at the fore-ends, fluted butts (one with a closed crack) carved with panels of vine foliage involving bird and serpents heads on each side and green man masks over the spines, finely engraved and gilt case-hardened mounts en suite with the locks, comprising spurred scrolling trigger-guards, trigger-plates with shaped finials, flush-fitting side-plates involving a central bat displayed and inscribed ' v. Praze' in gilt letters beneath, engraved pommels with blued finials, engraved and gilt barrel bolt escutcheons, no provision for ramrods, and in fine condition throughout: in their original brass-bound rosewood veneered case, the lid with a central vacant brass escutcheon enclosed by a circular flush-fitting carrying handle (repaired cracks), the interior lined in plum velvet (small areas of wear), the lid impressed in gold letters 'A.V.Lebeda k k landesbetugler Gewehr-Fabrikant in Prag', complete with accessories including Dixon & Sons patent powder-flask with embossed copper body, turned wooden patchbox with ivory lid carved with a cupid figure, ivory funnel, ivory-mounted wrench and mallet, and burnished steel bullet mould 27.4 cm; 10 3/4 in barrels Anton Vincent Lebeda (1797-1857) was apprenticed in Prague and became a journeyman in 1813. He worked briefly with Franz or Johann Contriner before joining the workshop of Matthias Brandej where he became master in 1822. His last recorded work was for a series of firearms comprising twelve double shotguns, six double rifles, and three rifled carbines made for the Emperor Franz Josef I. He stopped working in 1854 and his son Anton took over the business.