Original German Cased Pair of High-End Percussion Rifled Pistols by Klawitter of Herzberg with Accessories – c. 1835 Original Items

Original Items: Only One Set Available. This is a lovely pair of top quality pistols, produced circa 1835 in Germany. They come contained in an excellent wood two tiered case, complete with a working key. It measures 16” x 10” x 4”, and is made of very attractive wood. The top has a very nice brass decoration with a walking lion in the middle. Brass side handles complete this very nice case, which is lined with green felt. The top level houses the two pistols with an exotic embossed copper powder flask in the center compartment, all fitted in the continental cased style. 

The pistols themselves are simply lovely, and a great example of early the 19th century German style, fitted with engraved steel and German Silver. They have octagonal 9″ Damascus steel rifled barrels, with some nice silver bands near the breech, and lovely engraved tangs. Each is also fitted with ADJUSTABLE back sights: the square knob behind each works with a tool to raise or lower the rear sight for range adjustment. The stock wood appears to be walnut or possibly beech, and one pistol has quite a bit of curl in the stock. They have lovely checkering around the grip, though one pistol does have a split at the wrist along the grain.

The locks and barrels both have a small rectangular inlet, with brass inside that bears the maker and location of these fine pistols: KLAWITTER of HERZBERG in Saxony, Germany. We have found several other examples of similar sets of pistols, and they are quite desirable. The locks both function correctly, holding at half cock and firing at full. They also have a rather interesting rotating safety just in front of the hammers, which rotates prevents the cap from being struck if they are not rotated out of the way. One of the pistols does however have damage to the front of the hammer, with part of the “cup” missing.

The locks, hammers, trigger guards and butt caps are all decorated with floral type engravings, which are very well executed. Both pistols also retain their original wooden brass-tipped ramrods.  On the bottom of the butt caps they are numbered 1 and 2, indicating a matched pair. They are handmade, so they are shaped very slightly differently, and will only fit in their correct spots in the case.

The top tier lifts out like a tray, revealing the lower level with several cleaning tools with a wooden mallet and a copper cylindrical container. The top tool looks to be a stuck ball or charge extractor, and has the usual screw at the end. The tool below it has a brass end fitting that retracts from the other end, but we do not know what the purpose is. It may be a powder measure, which fits the very ornate powder flask. It then can discharge the power at the bottom of the barrel without having powder get stuck in the rifling. Quite ingenious!

The small brass container has had the bottom push in, and there is some type of substance in it, but we do not know what it is. Finally on the lower left there is a small split head screwdriver, which is the tool for removing the cap nipples, though it is worn. There are also two fitted positions, one for the bullet mold and a second for another form of a screwdriver or oiler, but these two items are unfortunately absent.

There are two lidded compartments at the bottom, the smaller of which contains a small cap box and a small tool, which is actually a small square-drive wrench for adjusting the height of the rear sights. The cap box contains a few caps, but also a very nice set of spare cap nipples for the pistols. The larger compartment is full of lead pistol balls, now covered with white lead oxide. 

In just wonderful condition, these very fine engraved percussion pistols come with all but two of their many accessories in magnificent collector’s condition. Ready to display!

Specifications: 

Year of Manufacture: circa 1835
Caliber: about .50″
Ammunition Type: Cap and Ball
Barrel Length: 9 inches
Overall Length: 14 1/2 inches
Action: Side action Percussion
Feed System: Single Shot

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