Mortimer Harvey Walklate
Flintlock
Repeating Pistol with Lorenzoni Action
Year: 1780
Harvey
Walklate Mortimer, gunmaker to George III (1730–1820), took special interest in
the repeating mechanism thought to have been invented by the Florentine gunmaker
Michele Lorenzoni (d. 1733) over one hundred years earlier.
Complex
internally, the Lorenzoni system allows for up to ten successive shots that fed
from a magazine concealed inside the grip.
A
one-hundred-eighty degree turn of the lever forward and back reloaded, primed,
and cocked the pistol. Mortimer’s Lorenzoni-type firearms, meticulously
constructed, reflect his admiration of, and desire to update and refine, a
successful design from the past.
Firearms
technology advanced at a rapid pace in Europe in the early nineteenth century.
London’s elite gunmakers, focused on optimizing accuracy, handling, and speed to
meet the expectations of England’s sporting gentry were at the forefront of its
development. Building on design advancements made in the 1780s and 1790s,
particularly the refinement of the flintlock ignition mechanism, they secured in
the next three decades dozens of patents for a dizzying variety of new
technologies ranging from improved lock mechanisms to novel barrel-making
techniques, competing to protect and market their inventions.
Handmade
with great precision, many London firearms of the period display extraordinary
mechanical ingenuity, in addition to being elegantly designed. This creative
push in the firearms field may be framed within the broader context of the
Industrial Revolution in England—a period marked by the glorification of
technological advancements and the celebration of individual inventors and
engineers.
Overall
43 cm, barrel is 26 cm, nice engraving, stock is factory checkered, silver
triggerguard.
On sold at "IVES DEVOS"
Photos Littlegun
