A Rare Scottish Scroll Butt pistol by Daniel Walker of Dumbarton circa 1740

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Price: £8,750

Ref: 62061076

Item Description

A 28 bore Scottish Scroll Butt Pistol by Daniel Walker of Dumbarton. Walker was one of a number of accomplished traditional Scottish gunmakers based in towns located along the Lowland border with the  Highland Line. Surviving pistols by Walker are rare. The pistol has a typically elegant profile complemented  with traditional engraved decoration. Scottish Scroll Butt pistols were popular with both Jacobite and Hanoverian Highland gentry and Scottish military officers in the late 17th and 18th centuries.

Daniel Walker is usually regarded as having been most active in the second quarter of the 18th century. His location in Dumbarton gave him commercial  access to the Western Highlands and Isles and he probably made guns for the clans in this area. Daniel Walker is recorded in 1719 in the Dumbarton borough records as being admitted burgess upon completion of his apprenticeship to James Houston. His career probably extended to just beyond  the  1745 Jacobite Rebellion period. As a result he would have witnessed first hand the social changes resulting from the pacification of the Highlands after the failure of the Rebellion.

The pistol is in original condition and crisp working order. The lock is of typical  “Highland form” with a horizontal sear extending through the lock plate which holds the cock in the half cock position, and a vertical sear which extends from the top of the trigger plate through a small oblong aperture in the middle of the upper part of the butt. The lock plate is clearly signed “D WALKER”.

Gunmakers like Walker supplied these distinctive weapons mainly to the Highland Clans during the 17th and early 18th centuries. Market days in towns like Dumbarton were a busy time as Highland drovers poured in with their cattle, the staple of the Highland economy, to trade with Lowland buyers, and to purchase weapons and supplies. Dumbarton was also an important port where boats from the Western Highlands and Isles and further afield would dock to trade.

The swan necked cock, and the area behind the cock on the lock plate, are  typically finely border engraved. A silver oval escutcheon is mounted on each side of the butt – one engraved with a crest of two crested birds facing each other and the other with stylised scrolling letters “JE”. The ball trigger is of silver and a silver headed pricker screws into the stock between the scroll terminals. The iron ramrod tube is spaced with line decoration. The ribbed ramrod is shaped into a flattened terminal.

Some features are typical of Daniel Walker’s style. The curved border lines between which the escutcheons sit is a common feature for Walker as is the squat grooved belt hook with a triple roundel attaching it to the stock pierced with trefoil designs. The four-stage barrel has a fluted section near the breech, a sighted ramp, and tapers to a flared octagonal muzzle with its middle section

The barrel is just under 8.0 inches long (20 cm) and overall the pistol is 12.5 inches (just under 32 cm). The pistol has a consistent light “salt and pepper” russet  patination all over. The lockplate retains a sheen of its original blued finish as can be seen in the photos.