A FINE AND RARE ROYAL SILVER-MOUNTED OVER/UNDER FLINTLOCK POCKET PISTOL MADE FOR PRINCE FREDERIC...

A FINE AND RARE ROYAL SILVER-MOUNTED OVER/UNDER FLINTLOCK POCKET PISTOL MADE FOR PRINCE FREDERICK, DUKE OF YORK AND ALBANY, by Tatham & Egg, London, with silver hallmarks for 1812, maker's mark of Michael Barnett. The 3 in., .45 caliber, octagonal sighted barrels each with rectangular platinum-lined maker's stamp and platinum line at the breech, platinum-lined touch-holes, tang with platinum line, back-sight and engraved with a panoply of arms and foliate scrolls, border engraved flat beveled locks each serial numbered '1195' behind the pan and signed in script 'Tatham & Egg' and decorated with a starburst behind the platinum-lined rainproof pan and with foliate engraved at the stepped tail, engraved safety-catches and 'French' cocks, and rollers on blued steel-springs, checkered figured rounded butt, mounts comprising border engraved D-shaped trigger-guard serial numbered on an oval against a martial trophy on the bow, spurred butt-cap decorated en-suite and with circular cap engraved with the full arms of Prince Frederick, silver escutcheon engraved with the crest of a Prince of royal blood of the House of Hanover, ramrod-pipe, and steel ramrod with checkered tip characteristic of Egg; housed in a tooled red Morocco fitted case by Powell & Franklin opening to a compartmented and green velvet lined interior with a single cavity ball mold, a bone brush, a red Morocco covered brass powder/shot flask and a glass oil bottle. Overall lg. 7 in. Footnotes: Provenance Acquired by the consignor's father in Upper Heyford, England, early 1953. Between 1949-1953 the consignor's father served in the Air Force Reserve's 106th Bombardment Squadron as a tail gunner. Upon his discharge he happened to visit a local antique shop in uniform. The owner asked if he was interested in looking at any antique pistols and showed him a set of ivory handled French dueling pistols and the present Tatham & Egg pistol. While he was most interested in the dueling pistols, their price was more than the recently discharged airman could afford so using his final discharge pay he purchased the Tatham & Egg Prince Frederick pistol. The pistol was brought to the United States in the airman's footlocker where it remained in his collection until today. Note The present pistol is certainly a pair to an identical pistol with the same serial number sold by Bonhams, Knightsbridge, May 11, 2016, Lot 393. The present lot includes a 1952-dated note regarding the engraving on and the age of the pistol. His Royal Highness, the Duke of York and Albany KG GNB GCH, was the second son and child of King George III. He entered the army as Colonel at the age of 17 in 1780 and from 1781-1787 lived in Hanover where he studied with his younger brothers at the University of Göttingen. He was appointed Colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards in 1782 and in November of that year promoted to Major-General. In 1784 he was appointed Colonel of the Coldstream Guards and in November of that year was created Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster also becoming a member of the Privy Council. On his return to Britain, he took his seat in the House of Lords and on 15 December 1788 during the Regency crisis, he opposed William Pitt's Regency Bill in a speech supposedly influenced by the Prince of Wales. In May 1789 he took part in a duel with Colonel Charles Lennox who had insulted him. Lennox missed and the Prince refused to return fire. In 1793 he was promoted to full General and was sent to Flanders in command of the British contingent of Coburg's army destined for the invasion of France. Frederick and his command fought in the Flanders Campaign under extremely trying conditions. He won several notable engagements, such as the Siege of Valenciennes in July 1793, but was defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793. In the 1794 campaign he was successful at the Battle of Willems in May but was defeated at the Battle of Tourcoing later that month. After his return to Britain in 1795, his father George III promoted him to the rank of Field Marshall effectively making him Commander-in-Chief in succession to Lord Amherst. His second field command was with the army at the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in August 1799. Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell, in charge of the vanguard, had succeeded in capturing some Dutch warships in Den Helder, however following the Duke's arrival with the main body of the army, a number of disasters befell the allied forces, including shortage of supplies. On 17 October 1799, the Duke signed the convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners. This ineffectual campaign led to his mocking, perhaps unfairly, in the now famous rhyme 'The Grand Old Duke of York'. Frederick's experience in the Dutch campaign made a strong impression on him and resulted in a massive program of reform throughout the army. He was responsible for the reforms that created the force which served in the Peninsular War and he was also in charge of preparations against Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom in 1803. In 1801 he actively supported the foundation of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in 1805 was given the honorary title Warden of Windsor Forest. Frederick resigned as Commander-in-Chief in March 1809 following the scandal caused by the activities of his latest mistress, Mary Anne Clarke, selling army commissions under Frederick's aegis. Following a select committee of the House of Commons enquiry into the matter the Prince Regent reappointed the now exonerated Frederick as Commander-in-Chief in May 1811. Although maintaining a country residence at Oaklands near Weybridge in Surrey, Frederick preferred to immerse himself in administrative work at Horse Guards and in London's high life, with its gaming tables where he accumulated excessive debts. He became heir presumptive on the death of his father in 1820 and died at the home of the Duke of Rutland in London in 1827. Henry Tatham and Joseph Egg are recorded as Gunmakers & Sword Cutlers to George III at 37 Charing Cross between 1801 and 1814. For a very similar pistol see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Early Firearms Of Great Britain And Ireland from the collection of Clay P. Bedford, 1971, pp. 181-182, no. 206. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing