Fine Modern & Antique Arms - November 2022 : Sale A1122 Lot 452
A GOOD .65 PATTERN 1808/11 EAST INDIA COMPANY FLINTLOCK LIGHT DRAGOON PISTOL, CIRCA 1810, no visible serial number,

Product Details

A GOOD .65 PATTERN 1808/11 EAST INDIA COMPANY FLINTLOCK LIGHT DRAGOON PISTOL, CIRCA 1810, no visible serial number,
9in. barrel with fading browned finish, stamped with crisp London proofs at breech together with E.I.C. inspection stamps, baluster turned breech, borderline engraved flat style lock bearing the E.I.C. rampant lion cypher to the centre (known at the time as the lion that got the cheese) dated 1810 on the tail, full walnut stock with carved apron around tang, fitted with brass mounts of regulation pattern including short eared butt-cap, sideplate, trigger-guard and distinctive double rammer pipe with spring to retain the steel rammer, pipes of this type were first introduced on the Ordnance model 1796 pistol, the butt stamped with a faint E.I.C. quartered heart, top jaw and screw old replacements, some minor bruising to stock, but still a good well above average example

Provenance: This pattern of pistol was an upgrade of the earlier E.I.C. pattern 1778/1808 troopers pistol and basically a copy of the service light dragoon pistol. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 of this pattern were requisitioned by the Board of Ordnance during the Napoleonic wars this might have been one. In India pistols of this type were issued to cavalry and artillery units in the forces of the three presidency's and also Imperial regiments serving in India. It was also the first E.I.C. arm to be marked with the rampant lion cypher replacing the earlier quartered heart. As many as 7800 pairs of these pistols were shipped to India between 1809 and 1812. Many of today's surviving specimens are ones sold off from the Tower of London in the 1960's and 70's.



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Estimate £700-900