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1 of 253523 objects
David Columbell (active 1730-77)
Pair of box-lock, flintlock pistols with turn off barrels 1750
Walnut, silver, steel | 31.0 x 16.0 x 3.5 cm (length) | RCIN 61062
![Master: Pair of box-lock, flintlock pistols with turn off barrels Master: Pair of box-lock, flintlock pistols with turn off barrels](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/e/9/402486-1373966994.jpg?itok=Em2r6PH3)
David Columbell (active 1730-77)
Master: Pair of box-lock, flintlock pistols with turn off barrels 1750
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No bill for this pair of pistols survives in the Duchy of Cornwall accounts, although RCIN 61062 was probably commissioned after Frederick, Prince of Wales’s death, for the young Prince George. This form of pistol with a ‘turn-off’ barrel to allow for loading was extremely popular in the early eighteenth-century, particularly for guns for personal protection which did not have to be reloaded rapidly. The locks include safety catches – another innovation of the period.
David Columbell may have been of Huguenot descent; he was apprenticed to the gunmaker, Gerrett Johnson, in 1712 and after obtaining his freedom worked in the area around Westminster. He was appointed Gunmaker in Ordnance in 1756.
Text adapted from The First Georgians; Art and Monarchy 1714 - 1760, London, 2014.Provenance
Made for George III when Prince of Wales.
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Walnut, silver, steel
Measurements
31.0 x 16.0 x 3.5 cm (length)
18.0 cm (barrel length)
Other number(s)
Place of Production
Greater London [England]