Peter Harris Clocks & Militaria has dated these Cased Flintlock Duelling Pistols to the Georgian era.
Each pistol features a finely crafted walnut stock with graceful swelling butt, steel furniture, and engraved flat stepped locks signed “H.W. Mortimer & Son”.
The smoothbore barrels, approximately 9 inches in length, are signed “London”, and bear clear London proof marks to the breech.
Both are fitted with set triggers, roller frizzens, and swan-neck cocks.
The pistols are housed in a fitted period mahogany case, lined in green baize, retaining the Mortimer printed trade label to the inside lid. Accessories include a bullet mold, small powder container, a double mahogany cased screwdrivers.
Two compartments with lids, and a horn-handled cleaning rod with worm end.
This is a fine and honest set, ideal for a connoisseur of British antique arms by the most important gunmakers.
Excellent condition overall with some old minor repairs. Both locks functioning crisply.
Length barrels: 7"
Length of pistols: 29.5cm
Case size:-
Width: 40.3cm
Depth: 21.5cm
Height: 6.7cm
Weight: 3182 grams
H.W. Mortimer & Son was a London-based gunmaking firm known for high-quality firearms, including flintlock pistols and duelling pistols, especially during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The business was operated by Harvey Walklate Mortimer and his son, and they held the prestigious title of Gunmakers to His Majesty (King George III) from 1783.
Royal appointment:
Harvey Walklate Mortimer was appointed Gunmaker to King George III in 1783.
Legacy:
The firm’s reputation for quality and technical excellence is evident in the surviving examples of their work, which are highly sought after by collectors.
Known as ‘H.W. Mortimer, Son & T. Mortimer’, the partnership had comprised H.W. Mortimer senior, his younger brother Thomas Mortimer and Harvey Walklate’s son, the younger Harvey Walklate (1776-1850). Following the division, from 1807 to 1812 Harvey Walklate Mortimer’s business was referred to as ‘H.W. Mortimer & Son’ and Thomas (now with the royal appointment in his own right) traded together with his son Thomas Jackson Mortimer (newly free from his apprenticeship), as ‘T. Mortimer & Son’. Having in fact traded independently of one another as contractors to The East India Company, quite agreeably over the span of their partnership, it would seem that the brothers parted without acrimony.
Mortimer’s royal appointment was given in reward for the magnificent pair of silver-mounted duelling pistols made by him and by the silver maker Moses Brent for George III in 1783. These pistols remain in the Royal Collection.
Harvey Walklate (1) Mortimer was first indentured to his uncle, the Birmingham gunmaker William Perry. He obtained his Freedom of the Farriers’ Company in 1782 and commenced his own business as a gunmaker at 6, King Street, Drury Lane, London in 1775. Mortimer moved to Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the following year and then established the business at 89 Fleet Street for the period 1782-99. Thereafter H.W. Mortimer continued working at the same address through the years of his successive partnerships.
Peter Harris Clocks & Militaria has dated these Cased Flintlock Duelling Pistols to the Georgian era.
We specialise in flintlock pistols, muskets, clocks & watches
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Cased Pair of Mortimer Flintlock Duelling Pistols by H.w. Mortimer & Son, London – Circa 1800
