A Very Fine Pair of 1770's Gentleman' or Officers Holster Pistols. Fine Juglans Regia Walnut Stocks, All Brass Cast Furniture Mounts Beautifully Engraved. Bright Steel Barrels & Flintlocks Signed Waters & Ward

Waters and Ward was an 18th-century English gun-making partnership based on Snow Hill in Birmingham, {active around 1770} an important regional hub within the historic British gun-manufacturing trade in the 18th century.

These are truly a beautiful pair of fine status pistols from the late mid 18th century, from the era of great turmoil across the Atlantic in the Americas, and simply a joy to behold. The Metropolitan Museum in America have numerous similar wonderful examples in their collection, carried by the English and American officers in both armies in the War of American Independence, in the 1770’s to 80’s. The wars where George Washington was General, and commander of the American forces, the Continental Army, against his former natural loyalties in his service to the British crown as a colonial officer in the 1760's.

The American Revolution, historically, was one of the most formative for world history until the 20th century world wars.
A war, that by defeating the British forces, by mostly former British colonists and crown subjects, along with elements of European emigres, and, the considerable assistance by the Britain’s greatest rivals at the time, France, creating, arguably, the most powerful nation of earth, in the much later 20th and 21st centuries. And, the other consequences, spawned the French Revolution, thus assisting Britain to expand the British Empire, and creating the worlds greatest power for the next 140 years until the 20th century, when America took its place, but only thanks to Germany, another of France’s great rivals.
The King of France expended so much gold from the French treasury, in loans and assistance to American revolutionaries, that it bankrupted the King, and naturally, France. Entirely, in many respects, due to the fact America, simply refused to pay back any financial contribution King Louis had made, and thus, creating the groundwork for his revolution, that cost him, and the nobility of France, their heads.
Ironically it was the French Kings ability to expend his vast resources against his government wishes, that lost him his realm, and it was the English kings inability to stop the war, as he was firmly against the British governments policy of the war, as he was a constructional monarch, thus head of state in name, but with no effective power to control policy or his governments wishes, that helped to create the most popular royal family in the world.
Another great irony, was, all the blame by America was heaped upon the British King George IIIrd, {the so-called, king of tyranny} to enable the circumstances of the war, but, he was one of the few men of ‘power’ in Britain that supported their situation, of course, behind the scenes so to speak, but, could do nothing about it. He was in reality, one of the kindest of men to have every ruled {in name only} a great nation, known by his beloved subjects as ‘Farmer George’, due to his passion of working hand in hand with his estate labourers, who he regarded as friends, digging ditches and tending animals.
Thus the French Kings action cost him his families throne, and lives, and the British Kings lack of action, went on the create the worlds greatest empire of the 19th and early 20th century. A lesson on the advantages of constitutional monarchies no doubt.
The previous few paragraphs, if you kindly forgive our wandering narrative, show, very briefly, and concisely of course, and naturally we had to leave out a few other minor historical events {around sixty ‘lesser’ wars, but whose counting} that just how intriguing and fundamental history truly is to all future events.

Both actions are very good indeed, tight and crisp as can be, however one frizzen spring that tensions the frizzen {a steel} on one lock, was broken in combat

Code: 26318