with turn-off barrel formed in three stages, rifled with six slender grooves and moulded at the muzzle (one small lamination beneath), moulded at the median and engraved with a band of foliage, octagonal then polygonal breech struck with the barrelsmith’s mark (illegible) and London proof marks on the left, rounded lock signed along the lower edge and engraved with strawberry foliage, fitted with rounded cock decorated en suite and moulded steel, figured half-stock carved with a moulding about the barrel tang (small chips about the pommel, small repairs), inlaid with a symmetrical panel of silver wire in place of an escutcheon, steel mounts comprising spurred pommel decorated with foliage (worn, indistinct), plain trigger-guard, trigger-plate with shaped terminal, and engraved openwork foliate side plate incorporating a scaley serpent, plain fore-end cap (perhaps later), and no provision for a ramrod, 42.3 cm overall

Provenance

An Important English Private Collection

John Dafte was admitted to the freedom of the Gunmakers’ Company on 12th November 1668 but apparently did not start his business until 1673, continuing until 1696. He was implicated in the Rye House plot of 1683 having supplied arms to the participants who attempted to assassinate Charles II as he travelled from a horse meet near Rye House, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. The exact details remain somewhat cloudy, according to the official narrative, the King departed earlier than expected thus foiling the plot. For a full account of this maker and the conspiracy see Cooper and Westwood 1989.