A RARE 28-BORE EARLY FLINTLOCK WENDER GUN, DUTCH OR NORTH GERMAN, CIRCA 1655-60
with turn-over barrels formed in two stages, the breeches struck with maker's mark, in a shaped field, a hand, the letters GMI or GHI beneath, standing back-sights, the muzzles bound by a raised figure-of-eight ring also carrying the fore-sight beads and the barrels released by a spring-catch in front of the trigger-guard, flat back-action lock with strongly bevelled edges tapering to a minute bead finial, the leading edge decorated with a notable chamfer filed between a pair of side-nails entering from the right, the third side-nail entering from the opposite side and fitted with ring-neck straight cock engaging a dog safety, ebonised paddle-shaped butt with stamped milled borders, incised finely cabled subsidiary borders and the rear underside portion also forming a sliding cover for the patch-box, fluted fore-end carrying a pair of diagonally slotted iron ramrod-pipes on one side, iron butt-plate and trigger-guard, and original iron-capped wooden ramrod
128.5 cm; 50 5/8 in barrels

The barrelmaker's mark appears to be unrecorded. Cf. an early Wender pistol in this collection, lot 231. A further Wender pistol, also comparable, unmarked but possibly from the same workshop, was in the collection of the late H.L. Visser; see Puype 1996, Volume I, Part 3, Cat. No. 507, pp.38-9.