Thomas Del Mar - Armour Sale

383384383A GERMAN AIR GUN OF BELLOWS TYPE BYF.A.ROTMAUER IN LEGAU, CIRCA 1760with signed octagonal swamped sighted barrel fitted with abrass sleeve, plain tang, fully enclosed mechanism, figuredwalnut full stock carved and incised with rococo scrollworkabout the tang, behind the ramrod-pipe and over the butt,raised cheek-piece carved with further designs and fittedwith a bolt for winding the mechanism behind, woodentrigger-guard with brass reinforce of shaped outline, brassmounts including a pair of scrolling panels on each side ofthe mechanism in imitation of a side-plate, two-piece buttplate,three ramrod-pipes, and complete with its originalbrass ramrod (incomplete, the stock with minor repairs andworm damage)81.5cm; 32 in barrelA gun of similar date and signed Franz Anthony Rotmauerin Legau is preserved in a German ancestral collection.£1800-2400384A POLISH BUTT RESERVOIR AIRGUN BY MARTINSCHOLTZ A BRESLAU, CIRCA 1720with three-stage swamped sighted barrel sleeved in brass,fitted with moulded brass apron back-sight, signed roundeddummy lock engraved with a figure from antiquity and theterminals chiselled with a grotesque issuant with foliageand a serpent respectively, chiselled cock decorated with aserpent top and bottom and fitted with a ring at the top,steel bridle engraved with a dragon, figured walnut fullstock carved with conventional foliage about the barreltang and over the fore-end, detachable butt, brass mountsincluding side-plate pierced and engraved with foliageterminating in a dragon head, trigger-guard with acanthusfinial, three moulded ramrod-pipes, horn fore-end cap, andoriginal steel ramrod (the stock with minor cracks andrepairs)95.1cm; 37I in barrelMartin Scholtz is recorded in Breslau (now Warsaw) circa1670-1700. This would appear to be an early use of thedetachable butt reservoir system, or a working adaption tothis system in the 18th century.£1800-2200158