Product Details
A RARE CASED PERCUSSION TAKE-DOWN PISTOL-CARBINE SIGNED ROBERTSON, WITH INTERCHANGEABLE 40-BORE AND 28-BORE RIFLED BARRELS,
circa 1840, with browned octagonal 11 1/4in. 40-bore barrel and another of 11in. in 28-bore, both with multi-groove rifling, the 40-bore barrel unsigned with one standing and two folding leaf rear-sight, white metal fore-sights, the breech-block of the added 28-bore signed 'BURTON, HADDINGTON' and with standing notch rear-sight, the other colour-hardened breech-blocks, fully engraved colour-hardened top-tang, border and scroll engraved colour-hardened bar-action lock signed 'ROBERTSON', engraved hammer, the sliding safe behind with thumb-piece removed and fixed in position, walnut half-stock with chequered bag-shaped butt (inlet repair to upper edge of fore-end forwards of lock), the back of grip with escutcheoned square socket to accept a detachable butt-stock (absent), blued trigger guard bow, single set trigger and no provision for ramrod, strong amount of finish remaining with speckled surface corrosion spots, together with a period mahogany case recompartmented and lined in blue baize for the pistol and spare barrel and including two mahogany loading rods, a later cleaning rod, a tin-plate box for caps, a wood pot and a turnscrew
Provenance: These pistols were built by John Ireland Robertson (1807-1888), father of the highly regarded John Robertson who bought Boss & Co in 1891 and catapulted the firm to international status. He set up his business around 1830 in his home-town of Haddington, just to the east of Edinburgh and built many percussion rifles that were renowned for their accuracy. He was one of the first to fit telescopic sights to his percussion rifles and pistols. His son, John Robertson was apprenticed to him in 1853 and it was during the course of this apprenticeship that he learned his prodigious skills from his father. He also built target pistols and when he died in 1888, his obituary in the Haddingtonshire Courier stated "the rifles turned out by Robertson of Haddington acquired almost a national celebrity for their excellence of construction".
His nickname in Haddington was "The Gunner", well deserved as all his rifles and pistols were built to the highest standards
Literature: 'Boss & Co. Best Gunmakers (2nd Edition) by Donald Dallas
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Estimate £2,000-3,000