FINE AND IMPORTANT, RARE GARNITURE OF FLINTLOCK PISTOLS BY NICHOLAS NOEL BOUTET, VERSAILLES, CIRCA 1798.

FINE AND IMPORTANT, RARE GARNITURE OF FLINTLOCK PISTOLS BY NICHOLAS NOEL BOUTET, VERSAILLES, CIRCA 1798. SN NSN. Fabulous cased garniture of Boutet flintlock pistols with matched pair of officer’s pistols and a matched pair of flintlock pocket or muff pistols. Officer’s pistols are cal .54. with 8-3/8″ fire blued, swamped bbls with micro poly grooved rifled bores, fixed rear sights and tiny dove-tailed front sights with elliptical diamond-shaped blades. Top flats are engraved in block letters and script “BOUTET Directeur Artiste”. Each end of the bbls have gold inlaid wide and narrow bands. The breech end of the bbls have gold cartouches with top flat stamped “NB” (personal mark of Nicholas Noel Boutet from early 1800s). Right top flats are stamped “LG” (mark of Liege bbl fabrication). Top left flats appear to be stamped “CB”. Lock plates are about 4-3/8″ long, slightly curved with tiny round teats. They have round tails with a raised engraved step on the tail and mount very delicate goose neck hammers. Pans are scalloped and shielded with classic bridled frizzens without rollers. Lock plates are engraved “Manuf’re / A Versailles”. Lock plates have a very fine scallop and Fleur de Lis border with an unusual foliate border pattern on the hammers. Raised sections of the tails are delicately engraved. Pistols are mounted in nicely figured one-piece French walnut with raised, carved borders around the bbl channels. They have raised side panels with rounded teats with raised carving around the trigger guards and nose pipes. Forestocks are stepped down to flat tables which contain single barrel-shaped guides with matching forms on the nose pipes which transitions to engraved decorative panels below. Guides contain their orig tapered wooden ramrods with brass screw ends and horn tips with steel pads. Bottom tables are bordered with raised, carved foliate patterns. Trigger guards, that house single set triggers, are identical in form with beautifully flared bows that are individually engraved with trophies of arms that have round leaf-engraved panels at the front ends which lead to tapered round posts into tear drop shaped panels with small teats. Front tangs are long, delicate urns on pedestals with ram’s head decorations at the transitions which terminate in bouquets of flowers at the top. One of the trigger bows is engraved with an oval bearing the head of Medusa and the other a quiver of arrows and battle axe with mailed fist clutching a spear. Side edges of the trigger bows are engraved in chain patterns. The long lower tangs terminate at the butt caps. Top tangs are identical in form, also with dissimilar decorations. One pistol has similar quiver of arrows and mailed fist clutching a spear with olive branches in mirror image of its trigger guard while the other tang is engraved with a shield, sword and olive branches. Grips are nicely curved with medium checkering and plain backstraps terminating in flared oval butts with deep relief-carved bead borders and carved panels above the butts. Bottom of the butt caps have steel oval inlays with empty center panels surrounded by very fine acanthus leaf borders which are, in turn, surrounded by beautiful intertwined chain border. All of the stock, furniture and inlays, along with the lock plates and hammers are burnished steel. These pistols are of the Consulate period Pistols of reward and given to officers for military valor. Accompanied by a matched pair of pocket or muff pistols, about .46 cal. smooth bore with short, round screw bbls, actions are center hammer & box-shaped with folding concealed triggers and sliding thumb safeties on the top tangs. Grips are of narrow bag-shaped French walnut with raised teardrop side panels, medium checkering on the sides of the grips with raised, carved bead borders. Frames are engraved on the left sides “Manufacture” and on the right side “A Versailles”. Both frame side panels have rectangular line borders with floral drapes over the names. Both sides are engraved with foliate patterns toward the fronts with Fleur de Lis and scallop borders below the side panels. Bottoms of the frames are nearly identically engraved with foliate patterns sprouting a vase of flower blossoms. All the metal on these little pistols is burnished steel. Accompanied by their spectacular orig French walnut casing with carrying handle in the lid and mortised steel lock in the front with brass escutcheon. Interior is lined in green wool felt with gold galoon piping. Bottom is French-fitted for all four pistols, two burnished steel bullet molds with sprue cutters, an Empire brass-bound horn powder flask with flat sides and its orig removable spout cover, a delicate wooden mallet, a wooden ramrod with mushroom head, a brass-tipped wooden burr with mushroom head, a brass-tipped wooden handle/powder measure with mushroom head, a wooden handled three way turn screw with brass ferrule and a burnished steel and brass worm for the t-handle steel cleaning rod with swelled, slotted tip. There are four empty covered compartments. All together an extraordinary and wonderful cased set. PROVENANCE: H.H. Thomas Collection. CONDITION: Extremely fine plus the bbls of the officers pistols only are reblued and retain virtually all of their fine, strong high-polished fire blue and bright burnished steel. Stocks are sound and retain virtually all of their orig oil finish. Hammer on one pistol has a crack. Muff pistols are crisp and unfired. They retain virtually all of their orig bright polish on the metal and strong finish on the stocks. Accessories are equally fine. Case is also very fine with usual storage and handling nicks and scratches and retains most of its orig varnish. A truly extraordinary unused set of fine pistols. 4-36649 DGT4 (70,000-100,000)

Auction: Firearms - Spring 2010

Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

Image	Lot	Price	Description
	2555	$132,250.00	FINE AND IMPORTANT, RARE GARNITURE OF FLINTLOCK PISTOLS BY NICHOLAS NOEL BOUTET, VERSAILLES, CIRCA 1798. SN NSN. Fabulous cased garniture of Boutet flintlock pistols with matched pair of officer’s pistols and a matched pair of flintlock pocket or muff pistols. Officer’s pistols are cal .54. with 8-3/8″ fire blued, swamped bbls with micro poly grooved rifled bores, fixed rear sights and tiny dove-tailed front sights with elliptical diamond-shaped blades. Top flats are engraved in block letters and script “BOUTET Directeur Artiste”. Each end of the bbls have gold inlaid wide and narrow bands. The breech end of the bbls have gold cartouches with top flat stamped “NB” (personal mark of Nicholas Noel Boutet from early 1800s). Right top flats are stamped “LG” (mark of Liege bbl fabrication). Top left flats appear to be stamped “CB”. Lock plates are about 4-3/8″ long, slightly curved with tiny round teats. They have round tails with a raised engraved step on the tail and mount very delicate goose neck hammers. Pans are scalloped and shielded with classic bridled frizzens without rollers. Lock plates are engraved “Manuf’re / A Versailles”. Lock plates have a very fine scallop and Fleur de Lis border with an unusual foliate border pattern on the hammers. Raised sections of the tails are delicately engraved. Pistols are mounted in nicely figured one-piece French walnut with raised, carved borders around the bbl channels. They have raised side panels with rounded teats with raised carving around the trigger guards and nose pipes. Forestocks are stepped down to flat tables which contain single barrel-shaped guides with matching forms on the nose pipes which transitions to engraved decorative panels below. Guides contain their orig tapered wooden ramrods with brass screw ends and horn tips with steel pads. Bottom tables are bordered with raised, carved foliate patterns. Trigger guards, that house single set triggers, are identical in form with beautifully flared bows that are individually engraved with trophies of arms that have round leaf-engraved panels at the front ends which lead to tapered round posts into tear drop shaped panels with small teats. Front tangs are long, delicate urns on pedestals with ram’s head decorations at the transitions which terminate in bouquets of flowers at the top. One of the trigger bows is engraved with an oval bearing the head of Medusa and the other a quiver of arrows and battle axe with mailed fist clutching a spear. Side edges of the trigger bows are engraved in chain patterns. The long lower tangs terminate at the butt caps. Top tangs are identical in form, also with dissimilar decorations. One pistol has similar quiver of arrows and mailed fist clutching a spear with olive branches in mirror image of its trigger guard while the other tang is engraved with a shield, sword and olive branches. Grips are nicely curved with medium checkering and plain backstraps terminating in flared oval butts with deep relief-carved bead borders and carved panels above the butts. Bottom of the butt caps have steel oval inlays with empty center panels surrounded by very fine acanthus leaf borders which are, in turn, surrounded by beautiful intertwined chain border. All of the stock, furniture and inlays, along with the lock plates and hammers are burnished steel. These pistols are of the Consulate period Pistols of reward and given to officers for military valor. Accompanied by a matched pair of pocket or muff pistols, about .46 cal. smooth bore with short, round screw bbls, actions are center hammer & box-shaped with folding concealed triggers and sliding thumb safeties on the top tangs. Grips are of narrow bag-shaped French walnut with raised teardrop side panels, medium checkering on the sides of the grips with raised, carved bead borders. Frames are engraved on the left sides “Manufacture” and on the right side “A Versailles”. Both frame side panels have rectangular line borders with floral drapes over the names. Both sides are engraved with foliate patterns toward the fronts with Fleur de Lis and scallop borders below the side panels. Bottoms of the frames are nearly identically engraved with foliate patterns sprouting a vase of flower blossoms. All the metal on these little pistols is burnished steel. Accompanied by their spectacular orig French walnut casing with carrying handle in the lid and mortised steel lock in the front with brass escutcheon. Interior is lined in green wool felt with gold galoon piping. Bottom is French-fitted for all four pistols, two burnished steel bullet molds with sprue cutters, an Empire brass-bound horn powder flask with flat sides and its orig removable spout cover, a delicate wooden mallet, a wooden ramrod with mushroom head, a brass-tipped wooden burr with mushroom head, a brass-tipped wooden handle/powder measure with mushroom head, a wooden handled three way turn screw with brass ferrule and a burnished steel and brass worm for the t-handle steel cleaning rod with swelled, slotted tip. There are four empty covered compartments. All together an extraordinary and wonderful cased set. PROVENANCE: H.H. Thomas Collection. CONDITION: Extremely fine plus the bbls of the officers pistols only are reblued and retain virtually all of their fine, strong high-polished fire blue and bright burnished steel. Stocks are sound and retain virtually all of their orig oil finish. Hammer on one pistol has a crack. Muff pistols are crisp and unfired. They retain virtually all of their orig bright polish on the metal and strong finish on the stocks. Accessories are equally fine. Case is also very fine with usual storage and handling nicks and scratches and retains most of its orig varnish. A truly extraordinary unused set of fine pistols. 4-36649 DGT4 (70,000-100,000) Auction: Firearms - Spring 2010 Please Note: All prices include the hammer price plus the buyer’s premium, which is paid by the buyer as part of the purchase price. The prices noted here after the auction are considered unofficial and do not become official until after the 46th day.

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