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LOT 281
Ornate Chiseled Germanic Wheellock Sporting Rifle with St. George and the Dragon Theme - NSN,
54 cal., 32 3/4 inch octagon bbl., bright finish, walnut stock. This extraordinary wheellock rifle dates to circa 1700 and features a highly unusual construction with no externally visible screws or pins for the lock and mounts. The swamped octagonal barrel is rifled with seven grooves. The muzzle face is chiseled with a sunken shaped design with a stippled background bordered by lightly engraved swags. The muzzle is chiseled in
low relief with scrollwork against a stippled background surrounding the brass blade front sight. The barrel tang is decorated with a recessed panel of scrollwork against a stippled background, and this decorative motif extends along the breech and surrounds the two-leaf rear sight. The scrollwork on the barrel is inhabited by two serpent heads. The touch hole is brass lined. The flat lock with its internal wheel
is profusely decorated over its entire surface with further low relief scrollwork inhabited by
further serpent and monster heads, a large grinning monster mask forming the
fence to the priming pan, and the sliding pan cover chiseled
in the round in the form of a recumbent lion.
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