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Product Details
HADLEY, LONDON
A PAIR OF 25-BORE BRASS-BARRELLED FLINTLOCK HOLSTER PISTOLS, no visible serial numbers,
circa 1760, with brass, slightly swamped 7 3/4in. barrels, the tops at the breeches engraved with a needle with teardrop finial and signed in script 'LONDON', London proofs, engraved iron solid top-tangs, flat borderline engraved locks with pointed tails and signed 'HADLEY' below the semi rainproof pans, swan necked cocks and roller frizzens, walnut full-stocks with bag-shaped grips (some repairs to fore-ends) and brass furniture, original worm-tipped ramrods
Provenance: These pistols are almost certainly from the workshops of Henry Hadley, who had been apprenticed to his father, Charles who passed away in 1731. Henry took over the business, establishing himself in Lambeth St. between 1734-44, although in 1735 he was threatened with prosecution as he had not fulfilled a proper apprenticeship with his father. However, he was allowed to bind his apprenticeship by the Company of Gunmakers in 1742. By 1756 he was a Contractor to Ordnance, had relocated to Suffolk Street, Strand, and is noted for producing fine pairs of silver mounted pistols with Spanish barrels, two pairs of which are currently held in the Royal Collection at Windsor. Other examples of his work are in The Royal Armouries.
Hadley passed away in 1773, leaving the business to his niece, whose husband, James Fairbrother, continued the business under the Hadley name
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Estimate £2,000-3,000