Summary

Percussion duelling pistols, pair, cased, converted from flintlock, cal. .490 in, smoothbore browned damascus steel octagonal barrel 25.30cm (10 in) long.
Made by Durs Egg, London, circa 1800.

Physical Description

Floral ensemble engraved tang and engraved border motif and double gold bands inlaid at breech end of barrel, notched rear sight, gold blade front sight. Lock plate engraved with loose foliate scroll and engraved 'D. Egg', hammer head engraved with typical 'open-mouthed fish' features, and hammer arm engraved with foliate scroll and attractive border motifs, safety catch at hammer rear, hair triggers, steelforewood cap with engraved starburst motif, oval steel triggerguard with spur and pineapple forward extension, plain rear extension, and flat buttcap with engraved border motif. Wooden, probably mahogany, case lined in burgundy velvet with seven major compartments holding a bullet mould and rammer. John Blanch, Fish Street, London, trade label on lid inner reads in part 'JOHN BLANCH, GUN & PISTOL MANUFACTURER'. Case corners reinforced with brass corner mounts and brass handle in lid center framed by double-point rectangular brass escutcheon.

Significance

This beautifully cased pair of percussion pistols by well-known London gunmaker, Durs Egg, were originally produced as flintlocks and can be dated to around the turn of the century. They have subsequently been converted to percussion, and this may have been undertaken by John Blanch whose trade labels appears on the inside of the lid.

John Blanch's son, also John Blanch and a gunmaker, migrated to Tasmania were he worked for some years during the 1830s in Hobart, before arriving in Melbourne in the late 1830s as Melbourne's first gundealer. His time in Melbourne was short-lived however, being killed along with his wife in a gunpowder explosion in December 1839 that destroyed their shop located on the eastern side of the market square.

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