Description
Important pair of Revolutionary War Period pistols by William Whetcroft of Baltimore and Annapolis. William Whetcroft arrived from Cork, Ireland in Annapolis in 1766. He later opened a shop in 1767 in Baltimore while retaining a shop in Annapolis. By 1769 he was back in Annapolis. William Whetcroft, Sr. (1735-1799) was a silversmith, watchmaker, and arms contractor. In the Maryland archives, “Maryland Council of Safety” records, on the 21st of October, 1775 the committee agreed for Mr. Whetcroft to produce fifty musquets per week for a two year period. Beside the Committee of Safety production, William Whetcroft was involved in iron mills and advertised his retailing for an assortment of jewelry, stones and silver plate. His prosperity is suggested by his portrait by Charles Wilson Peale which depicts him as a prosperous fashionable gentleman of the day. A small number of Whetcroft pieces survive today and some are at Winterthur.
The brace of pistols measure 13 ¾ inches overall with an 8 inch steel two-stage barrel. The barrels are slightly swamped and are approximately 65 cal. The top flat of the barrel is marked “Baltimore”. The locks are marked “WM Whetcroft”. The grotesque mask butt cap and the trigger guard are marked with the silver hallmark of William Whetcroft. The pistols are of the highest quality. The screws and wedges are constructed with close-plate silver over steel. The stocks are nicely carved with teardrop termination to the lock flat and a nice relief-carved flat around the barrel tang terminating with a shell. Mounted in the wrist of the pistols is an oval escutcheon with the name “A R Gill”. A quick search has yielded only one person in the period of the pistols in Maryland. It was Adam Gill, 1729-1800. It has been suggested a search in Virginia might yield more information. This pair of pistols was recently acquired from a three generation one hundred year old collection.
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