Item ref: 5121
The William Keith Neal Collection
This pair of pocket pistols possess a high degree of charm arising from the quality of their manufacture and finish, together with their preservation in little used condition.
In technical respects these pistols conform to the required specifications of the day but are fnished to the high standard for which the maker is noted. The barrels turn-off for loading, they are blued with engraved muzzles and engraved case-hardened breeches and are numbered 1&2.
The box-lock actions are finely engraved and case-hardened also, signed ‘W. Mills’ on an oval on the left-hand side and inscribed ‘120 High Holborn’ similarly on the right. Fitted with blued folding triggers seated entirely flush with the undersides of the actions and thumbpiece safety-catches also locking the striking steels. The butts are finely chequered, with engraved blued steel caps and silver escutcheons.
The pistols are in their fitted Mahogany case lined in plum velvet, together with bullet mould, three-way flask and barrel-key.
An unusual feature of the cases used by William Mills for his pocket pistols is the central portion of the fitted interior which lifts out as a separate tray. The purpose of this apparent refinement was presumably to facilitate removing the pistols for their cleaning and loading. The tray in the present case retains each of its textile pulls. A further feature particular to this maker was his especially finely produced embossed trade labels, of which the present example is near-perfect. The original pulls for the two compartment lids illustrated in Neal & Back’s above-referenced book have been substituted for ebony pulls.
William Mills (3) was apprenticed to the gunmaker William Parker in 1797. He set up in his own right in 1821, moving to 120 High Holborn in the following year, and where he remained until 1843. Mills also had a workshop (manufactory) on the corner of High Holborn at No.1 King Street and in 1825 he is recorded living at 2 Chapel St., Bow St.. In 1830 Mills was appointed Gunmaker to George IV, this being stated as ‘By Appointment to His Majesty’ on the trade label in the case lid of the present pair of pistols. From this wording we might suspect that the existing label was replaced by Mills circa 1830, to reflect his royal appointment.
An accomplished gunmaker, Mills made guns with superimposed loads under Jacob Mould’s patent of 1825. He also made revolvers of the type patented by the American Elisha Haydon Collier in 1818, trading briefly as Mills & Collier, circa 1830. Presumably these revolvers produced by Mills were in the original flintlock configuration, and would have required a sophisticated manufactory. William Mills died in 1837 and the business was continued by his son, William Frederick, trading as William Mills & Son until 1843.