with octagonal swamped sighted barrel struck with a mark, the letters ‘AC’ in a shaped shield above a star beneath a crown, long down-curved tang, flat lock retained by two side nails (one restored), fitted with external wheel retained by a heart-shaped bracket, scalloped pan with sliding cover, dog with short moulded neck, trigger with acorn finial, full stock (worm damage, small repairs), curved ‘fishtail’ butt with tapering upper border of round section capped in iron at each end (pierced at the base), iron mounts comprising butt-plate, trigger-guard (belt hook missing), and two bands over the fore-end, and associated wooden ramrod, 85.3 cm overall

Provenance

Robert Brooker Collection inv.no. 1869

The mark has been attributed to Angleo Colombo, though on no firm basis. A maker of this name lived in Brescia and is recorded as a ‘maestro d’archibusi’ and was associated with a merchant of arms. Other carbines of this type, are preserved in the Artillery Museum, Turin; the Capodimonte Museum, Naples and the Armoury of the Doges Palace, Venice. See Gaibi 1968, nos. 52 and 53 and Franzoi 1990, fig. 183.