An elegant pocket pistol by Turvey ca. 1780. Box lock, breech-loading turn-off barrel style, usually termed Queen Anne, but remaining popular long after her reign. Grip inlaid with silver wire and furnished with a figural silver butt cap. 9 inches overall. Barrel roughly 4 inches: 3 7/8 from the outside forward edge of the pan; 4 inches from the back edge of the pan; turn-off section 3 inches. Sliding triggerguard safety that engages at half-cock.
Metal in the bright but not cleaned or overly polished. Sharp crowned V and P proof marks on underside of frame along with a matching 1 on the frame and barrel indicating this was one of a pair. Nicely engraved Turvey on one side of the lock and London on the other, both amid engraved rococo scrolls. The top rear of the frame behind the trigger is engraved and the top jaw etched with a sunburst. The inlaid wire is better than 95 percent there with just a couple of short hair-thin end sections missing. You have to look hard to find them. The wire forms vine scrolls and swirls on the sides of the grip that resolve into a stand of arms with a canted drum, crossed trumpets and flags at the bottom of the grip above the shell finial of the butt cap. Above the stand of arms, around the tang, the wire is inlaid in a shell pattern imitating the raised shell carving sometimes seen on raised aprons around the tang.
The maker is most likely William Turvey (2), who apprenticed to George Turvey. I have not removed the butt cap to see if there is a letter date mark, but the dating of the style seems pretty clear.
Shipping $20 insured. Check or money order please, rather than paypal. NY address must add sales tax or supply resale numbers.