Griffin, Joseph of London
With two-stage 41 inch Spanish barrel with chiselled girdle and silver spider fore-sight, octagonal breech with gold-lined maker’s stamps of Agostino Bustindui (Neue Støckel 7165), a gold-lined cross above, and inlaid around the marks and behind the girdle with engraved silver scrollwork, gold-lined touch-hole, grooved tang finely engraved with rococo ornament and foliage, signed flat bevelled lock and cock engraved en suite, figured full stock with take-down fore-end and carved in relief with a shell behind the tang, cast and chased mounts comprising pierced trophy of arms side-plate, trophy of arms escutcheon engraved with owner’s crest, butt-plate with a trophy of arms and foliage against a punched ground on the tang, border engraved trigger-guard with shell and flower finials, the bow engraved en suite with the lock, silver ramrod-pipes, and later brass-tipped ramrod. London Silver Hallmarks for 1765, Maker’s Mark of John King.