Rare Flintlock Fowling Piece made by Andreas Dolep of London for the First Earl of Dunmore circa 1700 to 1710

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Price: £5,200

Ref: 52092426

Item Description

This fine and attractive gun was made by Andreas Rheinhold Dolep (known as Andrew Dolep the “Dutchman” in the records) who was one of the preeminent gunmakers in London during the English high period of gunmaking in the the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It dates to circa 1710. It is a well balanced and lightweight piece of 15 bore.

The gun is from the armoury of the Earls of Dunmore, Dunmore Park, Stirlingshire, Scotland. The Murray Earls of Dunmore were a branch of the Murray Dukes of Atholl. The gun was likely made for the first Earl of Dunmore, Lord Charles Murray (1661 – 1710), who was the second son of John Murray, the 1st Marquess of Atholl. Or it was made for one of his sons, two of which became the 2nd and 3rd Earls of Dunmore.

The gun is mounted with a tapering sighted barrel in three stages divided by mouldings with Dolep’s barrelsmith’s signature at the breech “A D” with a star above and London Gun Company proofs. The breech has a grooved  moulding for the rear sight. The touch-hole is brass lined and the tang is border engraved and  decorated with foliage. The plain rounded lock plate curves sharply downwards towards the nippled tail and is engraved with fine double lines around the edge and around the pan and cock. The plate is signed in capitals DOLEP.

The figured full stock has a raised moulding around the barrel tang and lockplate, and a pronounced swelling at the ramrod-pipe throat and ridges either side of the ramrod tube. The butt is slightly offset. The mounts are mainly of steel and border engraved comprised of the butt-plate, trigger-guard, scrolled side-plate, wonderfully chiselled with foliage and a grotesque head terminal, with silver wire inlay issuing from his open mouth, emulating smoke or fire. The contoured escutcheon is vacant and chiselled with a scroll above and acanthus below. The horn tipped hardwood ramrod is contained in three moulded ramrod pipes.

In the 18th century Some guns of the armoury of Dunmore found their way to the USA some of which are on display at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore, was the last British Governor of the colony of Virginia. He lived in the Governor’s Palace until he fled from it in 1775 at the onset of the American Revolutionary War.

The 14 bore barrel is just over 44 inches (112 cm) and overall the gun is just 59.75 inches (152 cm).

The condition is good overall. The action is crisp. The stock has dings and dents as is to be expected and the barrel has a small repair towards the muzzle where seemingly a small dent has been addressed. It is not unusual to find barrel dents on guns of this type due to the hard to achieve thinness of the barrel walls judged to maintain a harmony between maximum barrel calibre and the overall lightweight character of the gun.

Provenance:

The armoury of the Earls of Dunmore, Dunmore Park, Stirlingshire. The W. Keith Neal Collection and more latterly the Professor David Weaver Collection.

Literature: W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, Great British Gunmakers 1540-1740, pp. 247-248, pls. 91 a-c