Item ref: 2467
Almost certainly from a group of Nuremberg steel pistols ordered for the use of the palace guard of the Venetian Council of Ten.
The Lord Astor of Hever, Sotheby’s, The Hever Castle Collection, Arms and Armour, 5th May 1983, lot 70
This exceptional wheel-lock belt pistol from the workshop of Peter Danner is almost certainly from a group of Nuremberg steel pistols ordered for the use of the palace guard of the Venetian Council of Ten. Closely comparable examples, including some bearing the same sets of makers’ marks, are preserved in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. This pistol was likely included in an historic dispersal from the ducal armoury, as evidenced by two pairs near-identical to this pistol, one now preserved in the royal armoury in Turin (N 47/48) and the other pair in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.