‡ A FINE AND RARE 50 BORE SILVER-MOUNTED SINGLE-TRIGGER... Lot n° 290

‡ A FINE AND RARE 50 BORE SILVER-MOUNTED SINGLE-TRIGGER OVER AND UNDER PERCUSSION PISTOL, BY HENRY EGG, LONDON, CIRCA 1830, SILVER MAKER’S MARK MB FOR MICHAEL BARNETT with blued octagonal barrels fitted with silver fore-sight, signed 'Tatham & Egg' in a platinum-lined recess at the breech and inlaid with two platinum lines, silver fore-sight, engraved blued percussion bolsters, engraved case-hardened breech tang incorporating the back-sight, decorated with foliage and a Brittania trophy, signed engraved stepped locks decorated with scrolls, flowers, border ornament and sunbursts, fitted with engraved hammers and engraved blued bolt safety-catches, figured walnut butt cut with a fine pattern of chequering, engraved trigger-plate decorated with a starburst, silver mounts comprising engraved trigger-guard decorated with an elaborate trophy-of-arms, spurred pommel en suite with the trigger-guard and with a full coat-of-arms, silver escutcheon with the owner's crest, blued steel ramrod with pineapple chequered finial, and some early finish, 8.5 cm barrels Provenance Peter Dale, 1978 The arms and crest are those of George Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntley Gordon, George, Ninth Marquess of Huntly (1761–1853), was the son of Charles, fourth earl of Aboyne (1726–1794), and Lady Margaret Stewart (d. 1762), third daughter of Alexander, sixth earl of Galloway. He was born at Edinburgh on 28 June 1761. Known as Lord Strathavon, he attended Eton College for a short period, 1774–5, and joined the army in 1777 as ensign in the 1st regiment of foot guards; he was promoted in the same year to a company in the 81st Highland regiment of foot. In 1780 he was one of the aides-de-camp to the Earl of Carlisle, then lord lieutenant of Ireland. In 1782 he had a troop in the 9th regiment of dragoons, and in March 1783 he was constituted major of an independent corps of foot, which was reduced at the peace of 1784. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 35th foot in 1789, but exchanged in the same year into the Coldstream Guards. Lord Strathavon married, on 4 April 1791, despite her mother's opposition, Catherine Anne (1771–1833), second daughter of Sir Charles Cope, by which marriage he acquired the estate of Orton Longueville, Huntingdonshire, which he enlarged by purchasing in 1803 the adjoining parishes of Chesterton and Haddon. They had six sons and three daughters. Lord Strathavon quit the army in 1792, and was appointed colonel of the Aberdeenshire militia in 1798. He succeeded his father as Earl of Aboyne on 28 December 1794. He was a Scottish representative peer, 1796–1806 and 1807–18. In 1815 Aboyne was created a peer of the United Kingdom by the title of Baron Meldrum of Morven, and thenceforward took his seat in the House of Lords in his own right. He was made a knight of the Thistle in 1827. In 1836 he succeeded his cousin George, fifth Duke of Gordon, as Marquess and Earl of Huntly. He was a tory in politics, voting against reform in 1832, but following Wellington on Catholic emancipation and Peel on the corn laws. The Marquess died at his residence in Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square, London, on 17 June 1853. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles, tenth Marquess. Taken from Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed May 2024. Henry (1) Tatham worked with Joseph Egg (Henry Egg's father) circa 1801-14. For a discussion of the Egg family see Blair 1973, pp. 266-299 and 306-353 and for an account Michael Barnett’s work and the attribution of his marks, see Dickens 1999, pp. 86 – 117.