A RARE 18-BORE SARTORIS PATENT BREECH-LOADING FLINTLOCK SPORTING GUN BY ANTHONY FARINDON BIVEN,

A RARE 18-BORE SARTORIS PATENT BREECH-LOADING FLINTLOCK SPORTING GUN BY ANTHONY FARINDON BIVEN, serial no. 5, Circa 1822, with 23 3/4in. two-stage twist sighted round barrel with sprung foliate engraved handle, tip-up hinged breech-block engraved with a dog springing a pheasant and with turned lifting handle, the breech-block locking to the barrel by way of an interrupted thread, foliate engraved tang and flat bevelled lock (cock repaired) signed 'AFB' on the inside and with stepped tail, rainproof pan, pivoting safety blocking the touch-hole and roller, figured walnut half-stock with raised cheek-piece, chequered grip and fore-end, engraved iron mounts including trigger-plate with pineapple finial and scrolled trigger-guard decorated with a hound on the bow, engraved silver fore-end cap, and shaped silver escutcheon (some patches of corrosion throughout), London proof marks. Other Notes: This gun incorporates Urbanus Sartoris's British Patent 4107 of 11th March 1817. Sartoris envisaged his idea of a gas-tight breech-loading gun as being of great interest to both the military and sportsmen. Biven manufactured the rifle to Sartoris's patent between 1822 and 1825 at No. 16 Regent Street, London. The design did not prove popular and he went into liquidation in 1826.