A Beautiful 'Queen Anne' Cannon Barrel Breech Loading Pistol with Silver Inlays and a Solid Silver Grotesque Mask Butt Cap. Near Identical To Another Recovered from a Shipwreck off The American Florida Coast

Superb silver groteque mask butt cap and elaborate fine line silver inlays, stunningly depicting scrolls and shells. With steel cannon barrel, and boxlock sideplates, finely engraved with drum flags, sabre emerging from a cornucopia, with a safety mechanism enabled by sliding the trigger guard forward once the pistol is cocked. Excellent tight and crisp action.

Maker marked by T.London Known as a 'Queen Anne' flintlock this is a stunning example in wonderful condition. Demon face grotesque butt mask in silver. 11 inches long overall.

The ‘Queen Anne’ style pistol is distinctive in that it does not have a ramrod. The barrel of the pistol unscrews and allows it to be loaded from the rear and near the touch hole at the breech of the barrel. These pistols were originally made in flintlock.

The Queen Anne pistols were very popular and were made in a variety of calibres, usually about 38 to 50 bore. Boot pistols, Holster pistols, pocket pistols and Sea Service pistols were all made in the 'Queen Anne' style. This type is known as a Queen Anne pistol because it was during her reign that it became popular (although it was actually introduced in the reign of King William III).

The fine examples were made with silver fittings and or inlays.
This pistol is extremely similar if not identical to one found in 2010, within a shipwreck off St Augustine USA. Our pistol must have been made at the same time as the flintlock found in the Revolutionary War ship wreck. A ship that was lost in a storm on New Year's Eve 1782 off the coast of St Augustine, Florida. That extremely similar pistol was by T.Ketland pistol and now resides on display in the St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum.

The story of an American Revolutionary War shipwreck, excavated by Museum archaeologists and students from 2009-2014, and the recovered artefacts from the 1782 British Loyalist wreck found just off St. Augustine’s coast. It was determined that the wreck carried loyalists or Tories evacuating Charles Town, South Carolina and fleeing to British, East Florida which was still loyal to the crown. As many as 16 ships from Charleston (the name of Charles Town today) wrecked on the St. Augustine sandbar on New Year's Eve, December 1782.

As British loyalists ran in fear of the victorious Americans, many lost everything they had to the sea. Among the rare artefacts discovered, covered in concretions, was an identical to our silver scroll inlaid gentleman's pistol, made by Thomas Ketland in London, England.
In addition, an archaeologist found the ship's bell, which was devoid of any markings. The lack of the Royal Navy motifs, such as the broad arrow, provides a clue that this ship may have been privately owned. Also, archaeologists recovered a very early carronade ( small, deck-mounted cannon) made in 1780 in the Carron Ironworks in Scotland. We include in the gallery photos of the recovered identical pistol, covered in concretions, and another picture of an X Ray, clearly showing that the recovered pistol is so much the same as ours, even down to the silver scroll engraving that was revealed in the x ray on the pistols

As with all our antique guns, no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables

Code: 24932