Scarce Flintlock Holster Pistol by Edmund Giffard of London, Gunsmith to King Charles II, circa 1685

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Price: £4,000

Ref: 52092428

Item Description

A rare 25 bore flintlock holster pistol by Edmund Giffard of London. This high quality pistol is a symbol of how London gun making flourished in the later 17th century as the Restoration in 1660 brought to an end to the austere years of the Commonwealth and the reign of King Charles II commenced. The elegant contours and the fine engraving including grotesques and strawberry foliage are typical of this era. Giffard was awarded the prestigious appointment Gunsmith-in-Ordinary to King Charles II in 1670.

This attractive pistol is mounted with a three-stage 12 inch (30.5 cm) tapering barrel. It has an  octagonal breech becoming 16 sided and cut with slots. The  tang is finely engraved with strawberry foliage with a monster-head terminal. The border engraved rounded lock is signed in capitals and decorated with strawberry foliage which issues from the mouth of a horned grotesque head on the tail. The rounded cock and steel are also engraved with foliage. The figured root-wood full stock has a raised apron around the barrel tang.

The mounts include a silver side-plate, cast, pierced and chased with symmetrical scrolling foliage issuing from the mouths of two monster-heads.  The pierced foliate escutcheon has a grotesque mask above and is engraved with owner’s initial ‘M’, with a coronet above. The iron pommel has decorated spurs and is engraved with symmetrical strawberry foliage each side supported by a figure with outstretched arms. The trigger guard has a pointed finial and is also decorated with strawberry foliage with a monster-head terminal. The ramrod is housed inside two ribbed ramrod pipes.

Edmund Giffard is recorded as having been apprenticed to John Bicknell and was made free of the London Gunmakers’ Company in 1667. He established himself quickly in London as a gunmaker being appointed Gunsmith-in-Ordinary to King Charles II only three years later in 1670.  He was one of only 19 gunmakers to be granted Royal appointments in the 25 year reign of Charles II. These appointments represented the peak of achievement of these makers who were at the forefront in the revolution of English gun making taking place in the reign of Charles II as the Reformation period inspired the finer arts in all areas. The last reference to him is in 1704. Giffard supplied a pair of turn-off pistols as part of the King’s Present to the Emperor of Morocco. He also made guns for Prince Rupert.

It would seem that Giffard, along with some other notable gunmakers awarded royal appointments, were able to use their royal and noble patronages to flout the regulations of the Gunmakers’ Company with regard to the use of unproven barrels. Although no records are known to us of actions being being taken against him by the Company, other than one of a search of his premises carried out in 1684 (most likely a search for unproven barrels), such flouting of the rules is evidenced in our pistol which has no visible proof marks. Another contemporary maker with a royal appointment, John Cosens, has a list of attempted actions and fines levied against him for breaching the rules of the Company.

Giffard is represented by a fine pair of double-lock two-shot superimposed-load holster pistols in the armoury of the Duke of Buccleuch at Boughton House. See Murchoch 1992, p. 167, fig. 174.

Provenance: The pistol is extensively described in a paper by Professor David  Weaver and Brian Godwin entitled “William Townson and his Turn-off Pistol Dated  1683”, London Park Lane Arms Fair, Spring 2012. This paper was concerned with the dating of late 17th century pistols using one by William Townson dated 1683 as a benchmark. The publication describes the Giffard pistol and its maker on pages 87 and 88 and features a full suite of photographs of it in Figs: “a” to “f” on page 89.