.61 caliber. 8.5" two stage, slightly swamped pinned barrel with baluster turned rings at the transition. NSN. Bright finish, brass furniture, highly figured root wood stock. Single shot flintlock muzzleloading smoothbore pistol made without sights and with a brass tipped two-piece wood ramrod with iron wiper at the end. 4.875" convex lock with pronounced teat at the rear, with a rounded,fenced and unbridled integral iron pan and a swan neck cock. Lock is lightly engraved with simple foliate motifs with the cock engraved ensuite. Lock engraved in three lines "J / NICHOLES / OXON" with small flourishes before and after the word "OXON". The frizzen has a raised decorative feathery motif face and a curled toe, with the frizzen spring terminating in a trefoil. The trigger has a full curl at its tip. The first stage of the barrel is engraved with simple flowing foliate urn motifs. The brass furniture includes a grotesque mask buttplate with long, thin langets and engraved foliate decorations. The triggerguard is lightly engraved as well, and the open work side plate is a flowing dragon motif, similar to the classic "serpent side plate" that is so ubiquitous to the English-made Indian trade guns of the mid-18th through the mid-19th century. The thumb piece on the wrist of the stock is engraved with a crest of three crosses and the Latin motto "IN CRUCE GLORIOR" (I glory in the cross). The highly figured stock features a flowing raised carved apron around the breech plug tang and flowing wavy borders carved along the forend. According to Heer derNeue Stockel. John Nicholes (Nicholls) was an English gunmaker working in Oxford, Oxon circa 1730-1775. A truly lovely mid-18th century officer's or gentleman's pistol that would be a fine compliment to any collection of arms from the period of the French & Indian War or the American Revolution. {ANTIQUE}

[French & Indian War] [American Revolution][Flintlock Pistol]

Very Good to Near Fine. Bore dark, moderately oxidized and showing some pitting. Barrel with an even salt and pepper patina and showing moderate amounts of evenly distributed pinpricking and some light pitting. Brass with a mostly mellow golden patina. Most of the markings and engraving remain visible, if not always crisp. Mechanically functional action. Wood with some minor chipped loss around the tail of the lock plate and around the langets and with a small filed chip on the reverse grip along the trigger plate. A small, tight crack runs from the bottom rear of the lock to the trigger plate and a couple of small, tight cracks are present around the triggerguard plate as well. Otherwise the wood shows the expected minor bumps, dings and mars, as well a minor wood loss at the pins, all typical of a nominally 250 year old pistol.