A FINE AND VERY RARE TWO-SHOT SUPERIMPOSED-LOAD WHEEL-LOCK PISTOL, NUREMBERG, CIRCA 1585
with two-stage barrel with swamped muzzle and the breech struck with both Nuremberg mark and that of the unidentified maker, a rampant beast, probably a unicorn, the lock with plain flat plate struck with Nuremberg mark and a scissors mark including the initials CS (Neue Støckel 2303), the plate extended forward of the dog-spring, fitted on the inside with a tubular priming-channel linking a vent in the front wall of the pan with a vent for the primary charge concealed just forward of the barrel girdle, with single-trigger mechanism, no provision for a mechanised cut-off, a pierced engraved iron plate fitted over the wheel, safety-catch, sliding pan-cover (release missing) and the dog engraved with a monster and a grotesque, with fruitwood full stock inlaid over its full length with a series of engraved staghorn plaques arranged within horn segmental lines and stringing, including a grotesque mask set between a pair of rollwerk plaques about the barrel tang, the contemporary figures of both a lady and a gentleman standing respectively within ball-flower panels over the butt and forward of the trigger-guard, a pair of monsters towards the muzzle, a deer-hunting scene over the reverse side, involving a mounted sportsman armed with a sword and a huntsman armed with a spear, and ball pommel decorated with a segmented pattern of alternating grotesque masks and capped by a horn roundel engraved with a cavalry officer, fitted with engraved horn ramrod-pipe and fore-end cap, the former decorated with a grotesque mask, baluster trigger, moulded iron trigger-guard, and original iron-tipped ramrod (belt hook and one horn plaque each missing)
49.5 cm; 19 ½ in

The vent for the second charge is positioned conventionally at the breech, within a recessed small panel with dovetailed edges. The recess was originally intended to receive a hand-inserted cover to form a cut-off over the vent. The cover (now missing) was intended to slide between the breech wall and the inner face of the pan, and would have been suspended from a cord or short chain corresponding with the existing small staple set into the stock on the opposite side. The length of the iron portion of the ramrod indicates the correct seating depth for the primary charge.

Surviving examples of 16th century superimposed-load firearms built on a single lock carrying a single mechanism are particularly rare, which suggests a historical preference for the more frequently evidenced second mechanism.

The barrelmaker's mark compares closely with another, identifiable as a unicorn, also in conjunction with a Nuremberg mark and found on an over-and-under wheel-lock pistol in the former Imperial collection in Vienna (A577): see H. Schedelmann 1972, p.28, pl. 49, the marks shown in detail.

The maker's mark on the lock is attributed mistakenly in Neue Støckel both as unidentified and as the mark of Georg (Jörg) Schneider of Nuremberg, both references share the single number 2303. Another example of this mark is found on the lock of a wheel-lock gun also in the former Hapsburg collection in Vienna (WS.D.285); further examples are found on the locks of both guns and pistols in the Royal Armouries, Leeds (XII.720), the Royal Armoury, Madrid (RA.K76f) and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (MM.04,165): op.cit. , p. 68 (mark illustrated).