Joseph Manton
Eight inch rifled octagonal barrels with border engraving at muzzle and breech with small blade foresights retaining much original finish, stamped on left side with Hyderabad arsenal numbers, breeches with foliate engraving single gold line and gold touch holes, profusely engraved tangs, locks with blued safety slides rainproof pans close feather edge engraving and friction rollers in hammers, walnut half stocks with chequered bag shaped grips vacant silver wrist escutcheons and silver barrel bolt escutcheons, silver fore end caps engraved with sunbursts, blued engraved steel trigger guards in the French style with pineapple finials, captive steel ramrods. In their mahogany case lined in green baize with maker’s trade label for 1810-1812 and containing accessories including red leather covered three way flask, turnscrew, ball mould and cleaning rod.
Note: These very high quality pistols would have been originally made as duelling pistols probably with 10 inch barrels of about 38 bore. With an impending posting to India it would appear that they were returned to James Purdey for alterations. Purdey worked for Joseph Manton before setting up on his own in about 1814. His initials in their distinctive font are engraved on the underside of the reworked barrels. The trigger guards would have been replaced at the same time in the fashionable French style of circa 1815.