Property from an Important Private Collection AN IMPORTANT 54 BORE SOUTH GERMAN BREECH-LOADING SELF-SPANNING WHEEL-LOCK HOLSTER PISTOL, AUGSBURG, MID-16TH CENTURY with swamped barrel formed in two stages, the forward section round, chiselled with a grotesque foliate mask incorporating a low brass fore-sight at the muzzle, a further band of bold foliage at the median, and etched with a symmetrical design of bold strapwork enclosing delicate tendrils between, the rear section octagonal, stamped with Augsburg town mark towards the breech, and decorated with alternating bands of running foliage and delicate strapwork with scrolls, hinged breech decorated en suite with the muzzle and the median, released by a sprung gilt folding catch on the tang also forming the back-sight, removable iron cartridge incorporating the pan with associated hinged cover, blued flat lock retained by two side nails, fitted with external wheel retained by an engraved circular bracket pierced on the front with two slender S-scrolls, the edge gilt and pierced beneath as a drain, sliding secondary pan-cover etched with a green man mask and operated by a button release, sprung safety-catch with delicately filed details including monsterhead terminals, pivoting dog formed as a monsterhead with an issuant foliate mask beneath, fitted at its base with a hinged lever acting on an axle corresponding with a chain on the inside, the latter rotating the wheel and withdrawing the pan-cover when turned (the tip of the dog spur expertly restored), mainspring retained by an elaborately etched iron plaque decorated with a tusked marine monster, full stock profusely inlaid in engraved staghorn with an open design of foliage and differing flowers between segmental lines, with strapwork cartouches enclosing differing scenes of rabbits pursued by hounds and foxes on each side of the fore-end, a staghunting scene including a mounted huntsman accompanied by hounds and a falcon opposite the lock, strapwork cartouches forming the side nail washers, the underside inlaid en suite and involving an espagnolette, trigger-plate formed of a scrollwork plaque with a mask top and bottom, the butt decorated en suite with further strapwork cartouches about the tang, inscribed with the date, perhaps 1562, behind and a monsterhead suspended beneath, the spine decorated with three birds including an owl, a marine monster on the left, and faceted pommel decorated with an alternating arrangement of espagnolettes, fruit and foliage between corresponding segmental lines, iron trigger-guard, engraved staghorn fore-end cap and engraved staghorn ramrod-pipe (small losses, minor replacements, small repairs at the fore-end and opposite the lock, later ramrod) 55.6 cm; 21 7/8 in barrel Provenance The Lord Astor of Hever, sold Sotheby's, London, 5th May 1983, lot 61 Exhibited Welt im Umbruch 1980, no. 885, p. 493-4, illustrated. As stated in the Hever catalogue, this pistol displays exceptional technical innovation for the period. It can be loaded at the breech with a removable cartridge that is complete with a pan, thus allowing the user to insert a pre-loaded and primed cartridge into the chamber. Furthermore it can be used as a self-spanning wheel-lock or primed with a key. No other pistol of this early date displays so many refinements. The breech-loading system is related to that of a slightly earlier pistol of circa 1545-50, probably made in Augsburg, preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. nr. A603. See Schedelmann 1972, p. 4 and Gamber & Beaufort 1990, p. 66. The option for self-spanning or hand spanning is notably early. Two examples made around a century later, formerly preserved in the ancestral armoury of the Princes Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Schloss Langenburg were sold in this room, lot 286, 3rd December 2015 and lot 538, 24th June 2015.