Hey do you guys remember my superimposed pistol barrels? I think they may be more interesting than I initially thought. Check out this pistol that belonged to King Louis XIV. They say only a few are known and it makes perfect sense to mine since the only decoration on mine is on the top of the top one. The name on mine is older. I'm certain the pistol itself would be less fancy but how cool is that to have a hidden barrel!
https://drouot.com/fr/l/28120812-pistolet-darcon-a-silex-a-deux-canons-superposes-et-second
Here is what the auction write-up says:
A flintlock pommel pistol with double superposed barrels, octagonal then round, upper barrel finished with a rim, bearing the signature GIO LAZARINO COMINAZZO, a cambered body lock, signed GVB (Giovanni Valetti Brescia), chiseled with scrolls and finished with a fleur-de-lys, a chimera-shaped hammer, a double sliding bassinet chiseled en suite, a bassinet cover decorated with a mascaron, a battery spring, a two-part blackened wooden mount, stamped 372 in front of the underguard, all fittings in chiseled iron and openworked with scrolls, a fleur-de-lys cap button.
A ramrod hidden under the barrel block.
Conservation condition: Excellent but it should be noted that the upper jaw of the hammer has been replaced.
This pistol is an exceptional weapon due to its technical and historical characteristics. From a technical point of view, first of all, it is distinguished by the ingenuity of its mechanism which allowed two successive shots to be fired while revealing only one barrel, the lower barrel being hidden by the stock, and a single plate subtly equipped with a double sliding basin, which therefore made the possibility of a second shot unpredictable. Weapons with this concealed system of successive firings, using a single plate and a hidden barrel, from the last third of the 17th century, are extremely rare. Indeed, only two other examples are known: a pair preserved in the collections of the Princes Odescalchi Rome (cf. N.di Carpegna, Firearms in the Princes Odescalchi Collection in Rome, Rome, Ed. Marte, 1975, p97-100, n° 23 (Inv.n° 62-3)) and another in the Treasury of Capodimonte in Naples (Cf. Tesori di Capodimonte,
Dipenti, Disegni and Oggetti Lombardi dal Museo di Capodimonte di Napoli, Milan, Ed. Silvana, p. 106-107 (Inv. No. OA 1907,3873-3874)).
From a historical point of view, the presence of the number 372 stamped in the mount in front of the underguard refers directly to the General Inventory of the Furniture of the Crown of 1717 (Arms and Armor) drawn up by Gaspar de Fontanieu, Comptroller General of the Furniture of the Crown, in which is described: "372...A pair of pistols two feet long with two barrels and a single battery, made by the same PIO LAZARINO COMINAZZO, mounted on a blackened wood, the end of the pommel of which is of openwork poly-chiseled iron". The first inventory, carried out in 1673, comprising 351 numbers (including the famous Cabinet d'Armes de Louis XIII) and its supplement of 1681 did not mention this pair of pistols, which indicates that it was still among the weapons used by King Louis XIV, before joining the inventory of 1717. The second pistol forming a pair is kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It is published and inventoried under the number 6659 (Cf. L. Tarassuk, Antique European and American Firearms at the Hermitage Museum, 1972, p. 195, n° 409, as well as in JP Reverseau, Armes et Armures de la Couronne au Musée de l'Armée, Dijon, Ed. Faton, 2004, p. 292). Despite the delicacy and refinement of the treatment of the fittings, in openwork chiseled iron, fleur-de-lis cap buttons, the functional and robust aspect of this pair of pistols reinforces the hypothesis of their use by King Louis XIV himself. Furthermore, their rare technical particularity is reminiscent of that of the famous fitting, composed of two wheellock pistols and a carbine (Livrustkammaren of Stockholm) executed by Giovanni Antonio Gavacciolo (locks), Lazarino Cominazzo (barrels), Antonio and Carlo Gossi as well as Giacinto Cecardo (fittings), in 1638-1639, offered by the Senate of Venice to Louis XIII, then given either by the Queen Mother Anne of Austria or by Cardinal Mazarin to the Crown of Sweden.
https://drouot.com/fr/l/28120812-pistolet-darcon-a-silex-a-deux-canons-superposes-et-second
Here is what the auction write-up says:
A flintlock pommel pistol with double superposed barrels, octagonal then round, upper barrel finished with a rim, bearing the signature GIO LAZARINO COMINAZZO, a cambered body lock, signed GVB (Giovanni Valetti Brescia), chiseled with scrolls and finished with a fleur-de-lys, a chimera-shaped hammer, a double sliding bassinet chiseled en suite, a bassinet cover decorated with a mascaron, a battery spring, a two-part blackened wooden mount, stamped 372 in front of the underguard, all fittings in chiseled iron and openworked with scrolls, a fleur-de-lys cap button.
A ramrod hidden under the barrel block.
Conservation condition: Excellent but it should be noted that the upper jaw of the hammer has been replaced.
This pistol is an exceptional weapon due to its technical and historical characteristics. From a technical point of view, first of all, it is distinguished by the ingenuity of its mechanism which allowed two successive shots to be fired while revealing only one barrel, the lower barrel being hidden by the stock, and a single plate subtly equipped with a double sliding basin, which therefore made the possibility of a second shot unpredictable. Weapons with this concealed system of successive firings, using a single plate and a hidden barrel, from the last third of the 17th century, are extremely rare. Indeed, only two other examples are known: a pair preserved in the collections of the Princes Odescalchi Rome (cf. N.di Carpegna, Firearms in the Princes Odescalchi Collection in Rome, Rome, Ed. Marte, 1975, p97-100, n° 23 (Inv.n° 62-3)) and another in the Treasury of Capodimonte in Naples (Cf. Tesori di Capodimonte,
Dipenti, Disegni and Oggetti Lombardi dal Museo di Capodimonte di Napoli, Milan, Ed. Silvana, p. 106-107 (Inv. No. OA 1907,3873-3874)).
From a historical point of view, the presence of the number 372 stamped in the mount in front of the underguard refers directly to the General Inventory of the Furniture of the Crown of 1717 (Arms and Armor) drawn up by Gaspar de Fontanieu, Comptroller General of the Furniture of the Crown, in which is described: "372...A pair of pistols two feet long with two barrels and a single battery, made by the same PIO LAZARINO COMINAZZO, mounted on a blackened wood, the end of the pommel of which is of openwork poly-chiseled iron". The first inventory, carried out in 1673, comprising 351 numbers (including the famous Cabinet d'Armes de Louis XIII) and its supplement of 1681 did not mention this pair of pistols, which indicates that it was still among the weapons used by King Louis XIV, before joining the inventory of 1717. The second pistol forming a pair is kept at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. It is published and inventoried under the number 6659 (Cf. L. Tarassuk, Antique European and American Firearms at the Hermitage Museum, 1972, p. 195, n° 409, as well as in JP Reverseau, Armes et Armures de la Couronne au Musée de l'Armée, Dijon, Ed. Faton, 2004, p. 292). Despite the delicacy and refinement of the treatment of the fittings, in openwork chiseled iron, fleur-de-lis cap buttons, the functional and robust aspect of this pair of pistols reinforces the hypothesis of their use by King Louis XIV himself. Furthermore, their rare technical particularity is reminiscent of that of the famous fitting, composed of two wheellock pistols and a carbine (Livrustkammaren of Stockholm) executed by Giovanni Antonio Gavacciolo (locks), Lazarino Cominazzo (barrels), Antonio and Carlo Gossi as well as Giacinto Cecardo (fittings), in 1638-1639, offered by the Senate of Venice to Louis XIII, then given either by the Queen Mother Anne of Austria or by Cardinal Mazarin to the Crown of Sweden.
