Lot 104
RARE EARLY PRE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR COLONIAL KETLAND & CO. MILITARY FLINTLOCK HORSE PISTOL. A Very Rare Antique Early Pre American Revolutionary War Colonial Military Flintlock Horse Pistol by; Ketland & Co., circa. late 1760's - 1775. 10 1/8" .60 cal. round iron barrel struck w/(2) early PROOFS on the left side of breech. Brass furniture including a flat side plate in the form of the British Military 2nd Model Short Land Pattern Brown Bess Service Musket. Round faced lock maker signed 'Ketland & Co.'. Stock has had many small restorations over the years to; fore-end at muzzle, just under the lock plate and just above the rear of the lock plate. In good working mechanical order. 16.25" overall. Note; A similar (PAIR) of early flintlock pistols are pictured/published in 'The Kentucky Pistol' by, Roy F. Chandler and James B. Whisker, c. 1994, pp. 170-173. These pistols w/original saddle holsters belonged to Thaddeus Cook who began his Military career as a Lieutenant during the French and Indian War. In that war he saw service with the British General Jeffrey Amherst at Fort Ticonderoga. In 1773, As a Major of State Militia, Cook went with Silas Dean to Westmoreland (then part of the Connecticut Charter, now northern Pennsylvania) to help stabilize the political structure on that wilderness frontier.
Cook was promoted to Colonel and with his 10th Militia Regiment crossed the Delaware River on December 25, 1776 with General George Washington to fight the battle of Trenton.
In 1777, Colonel Thaddeus Cook led his regiment in both battles of Saratoga and also saw service at the British invasions of New Haven and Danbury, Connecticut. He accompanied General Sullivan in 1779 to destroy the Iroquois Confederacy, and is mentioned in Allen Eckert's book The Wilderness War.
In 1787, Colonel Cook was a member of the Connecticut Constitutional Committee which approved that state's adoption of the United States Constitution.
This example may have been part of a larger number of similar pistols made for Militia Officers just before the American Revolution. It is known that the Ketland gun makers had rather unique relationships set up in the Colonies with offices in Birmingham, London, Philadelphia, Maryland and New York City as well as trading post establishments throughout New England like the Hudson Bay Colony. It would appear that they were supplying weapons to any willing buyer which could be interpreted as selling to both sides of the conflict !!! $1,500 - 3,000
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| Realized $969 |
