Late 17th-Century English Antique Blunderbuss by Edward Nicholson of London

Antique blunderbuss by Nicholson of London, England. The barrel bears impressed proof marks and the London Gun Company View.

Late 17th-century.

Edward Nicholson was part of a family of gunmakers by that name that worked in London. He also had a gunmaking son called Edward. This blunderbuss is a fine example of the work of Edward Senior.

Nicholson served his apprenticeship with Robert Silke and Michael Richardson from 1668 and was made free of the Gunmaker’s Company in 1675. He was elected Assistant to the Company in 1691 and Master in 1697 and recorded as Gunmaker based in the Minories and separately as contractor to the Ordnance from 1687 to 1711, to the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1687 to 1712 and to the East India Company in 1700. He died in 1712.

Following the Restoration of the Monarchy in England in 1660, firearms, including blunderbusses, increased in popularity in civilian life and in the Services, particularly with the Navy. A manuscript dated 1684 shows that ships were entitled to a number of blunderbusses represented as a proportion of the number of cannon employed on board.

The blunderbuss is mounted with a heavy brass barrel of rounded form, narrowing slightly towards the middle and then gently flaring towards its muzzle.

The barrel is clearly stamped with the London Gun Company View and Proof Marks. Between these marks, the mark of a sunburst with a face inside and the makers initials are stamped but are worn. 

The maker’s mark "NICHOLSON" is stamped into the lower part of the lock plate to the front of the cock but is hidden slightly by the frizzen spring. The lock plate, cock and pan are engraved with decoration. The lock is secured to the stock by large transverse screws, two of which, with dome heads, are visible on the reverse side, which also hold in place a scrolled side plate.

The iron trigger is set within the iron guard. The screw head, from above the tang rather than from below, (a revised method used from just before 1700) secures the barrel and trigger at the breech.

The brass butt plate, with an engraved tail on top, is secured to the butt with two steel screws fixed flush to the surface.

The wooden tapered ramrod fixes into a bored aperture without tailpipe and is supported by a single banded brass tube and ramrod groove in the fore-end.

The walnut stock is nicely shaped and is lightly carved close to the trigger to form a hand grip.

Provenance - Ex-private collection, East Yorkshire, England.

Condition - Good condition overall. Please refer to the images. A further detailed condition report is available upon request.

Size -.The overall length of the blunderbuss is 31" inches (78.75 cm).