Flint-lock pistol with ramrod

Flint-lock pistol, a pair with A1229. Barrel of round section, with flattened plane on top inscribed:

GIO BATTA FRANZZINO

and engraved at the breech and on the top rib.

Lock. The lock-plate is plain, save for acanthus ornament chiselled in low relief at the rear end, and is inscribed:

STEFANO SCIOLI

The head of the pin securing the cock is chiselled in the form of a grotesque mask.

Stock entirely of steel, but conventional in shape. The surface is covered with engraved floral scrollwork, except by the ramrod socket where the decoration is rendered in relief. Butt-cap with a lion's mask chiselled on the end and acanthus foliage on the sides. The screw-plate and scutcheon-plate are chiselled with openwork scrolls and foliage, and the trigger-guard finials are similarly treated. In the centre of the bow of the latter is a lion's mask in relief. Steel ramrod.

Italian, about 1680.

For notes on G. B. Francino, see under A1184, and on Stefano Sioli, under A1227.

Gaibi, Armida fuoco, 1962, p. 128, pI. 147b; and Armi da fuoco, 1978, figs. 423-4; Blair, Pollard's History of Firearms, 1983, pI. 73. A. Gaibi (loc. cit., 1962) attributed the barrels to Giovanni Battista Francino II, born 1647. The lock-maker's mark is not recorded in N. Støckel.