EARLY KETLAND FLINTLOCK POCKET PISTOL CA.1790
$795.00
Description
Top of the cock is brazed to the lower jaw with copper, a nicely-done period repair. Vacant silver escutcheon is inset in the walnut grip.
The Ketland family of Birmingham and London imported most of the firearms privately-purchased in America in the late 18th-early 19th centuries. When encountered today, the Ketland pistols and long-arms almost always have American provenance, and are as much a part of the historical landscape of the years just after the end of the American Revolution, as the American-made arms. Ketlands had established themselves in the very young USA in the late 1780s, when two sons of Thomas Ketland moved to Philadelphia to set-up the American branch of their trading firm, married and became American citizens. Ketland arms were well-built, sturdy, relatively inexpensive, and popular.
Marked Ketland on left side of breech, London on the right, this turn-off pocket pistol is chambered in .44" caliber. Cannon-shaped stepped barrel is 4" long, pistol is 9.5" long overall. Breech is Proved and Viewed, breech and barrel are numbered 1. Cocking mechanism works fine, the sliding safety trigger guard also functions fine. When the trigger guard is moved forward, the safety is engaged, and cock does not fall when trigger is pressed. When the trigger guard is slid back towards the grip, the cocking mechanism engages and the gun fires. An experienced shooter could accomplish this operation in a mere second, with one finger, and without taking aim off his mark.
Top of the cock is brazed to the lower jaw with copper, a nicely-done period repair. Vacant silver escutcheon is inset in the walnut grip.
The Ketland family of Birmingham and London imported most of the firearms privately-purchased in America in the late 18th-early 19th centuries. When encountered today, the Ketland pistols and long-arms almost always have American provenance, and are as much a part of the historical landscape of the years just after the end of the American Revolution, as the American-made arms. Ketlands had established themselves in the very young USA in the late 1780s, when two sons of Thomas Ketland moved to Philadelphia to set-up the American branch of their trading firm, married and became American citizens. Ketland arms were well-built, sturdy, relatively inexpensive, and popular.