This beautiful pair of British Officer's pistols has been in a private New York collection for the past 20+ years. They were last sold and advertised by Herb Glass Jr. in the June 1994 "Gun Report"(copy will come with the pistols). The steel barrels and locks are signed John Harman. He was a London maker and would have made these circa 1740's. Overall lengths are 12" and the barrels,with proofmarks and maker's mark, are slightly swamped at the muzzles, lightly engraved with slight flats at the breeches and with engraved tangs. The rounded steel locks are signed and border engraved.  All furniture,save only the grotesque mask butt caps and vacant shield type escutcheon(in silver), is steel. The rounded sideplates are border engraved with a slight rear finial; guards with vase type finials and ramrod pipes with raised piping edges and a pronounced chin on the lower pipe. The original iron capped wooden ramrods are still present. The walnut full stocks are excellent overall with period inlays of small pieces of wood at the lower pipe swells on both pistols(almost unnoticeable) and a hairline crack in the forend of one. All markings, mechanics and edges are excellent; all steel parts are a soft grey patina with just a couple of tiny spots of very light roughness on the barrels. John Harman apprenticed in 1707 to John Shaw, was a freeman of the Gunmakers Co. in 1714 and the court register shows him as gunmaker to the Prince of Wales in 1729. The last reference to him in the Gunmakers Co. records is 1760. A lovely pair of pistols with handsome lines and in fine crisp condition. 

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