19th C. German Target Pistols & English Case
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GUEST:
They were my grandfather's. He traveled around the Caribbean in about uh the '50s, I think it was. And he did a lot of personal favors for some families, and as a result of the favors, someone gave him this as a gift.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And that's really all we know. We don't know very much about it.
APPRAISER:
What do you think pistols like this would've been used for?
GUEST:
Uh, we think they're dueling pistols.
APPRAISER:
Where do you think they're from?
GUEST:
Uh, we think they were made in England,
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
but we're not sure of that, either, so...
APPRAISER:
Okay. Well, this is actually a... a typical English casing
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
for a pair of dueling pistols
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
from around the early 19th century. The case has a label in it that says "William Dooley, from Liverpool," and the case set here has what appears to be their original accessories.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
And would've originally held a pair of, probably... of Flint dueling pistols.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Unfortunately, the pistols themselves are actually German.
GUEST:
Yeah?
APPRAISER:
The pistols have a mark right here, in gold...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
That says "Kraus in Hertzberg," and they date to about the mid-19th century.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So they're a little bit later.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
So at some point or other, the box and the pistols were married together.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
That said, too, is that they're actually not dueling pistols.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
They're typical target pistols.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
And one thing that you can tell about a target pistol is, is that they have rifling right in here.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And that would help the ball move straighter. Now, in your traditional English pistols,
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
dueling pistols, they were smoothbore.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And one of the reasons was, is that when they were in a duel, they didn't want, necessarily, the bullet to go straight.
GUEST:
(chuckling): Okay.
APPRAISER:
They wanted the bullet to sort of wobble in the air, because it was considered ungentlemanly...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...to take that much accuracy in this contest between two gentlemen over a matter of honor. So you would almost never see rifling in that type of pistol.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
The other thing about it, which is very typical of this type of target pistol, is right here you'll see, behind the sight...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...there's a little nut there for adjusting the actually level of the sight...
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
...depending on the range that you were looking for.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
So, again, those are very typical target features. The pistols themselves are probably, I would imagine, worth, at auction, about $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
With the case, you may be able to add another $1,000.
GUEST:
Oh, okay. Well, thank you.
APPRAISER:
You're welcome.
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