Pair of percussion cap pistols

In the nineteenth century, pistol duels became fashionable alongside duels for cold steel. An insult to honour was a sufficient pretext for a duel, and duels were initially not regulated by a code of honour, but only by rules passed down verbally. It was not until 1836 that a code of honour was finally laid down in France. The duels used specially manufactured pistols, stored in wooden cases, which contained a suit of two identical pistols and their accessories. In the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin there are two duelling pistols with percussion caps, without a suit, signed G.G. Ewertz Stettin. Their maker was the gunsmith Georg Gottlieb Ewertz, who came to Stettin from Mitau, the former capital of Semigallia (now Jelgava, Latvia). He was active in Szczecin between 1773 and 1811 in his own workshop at Breitestrasse 377 near the Brama Berlińska (now ul. Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego and Brama Portowa), and his business was further pursued by his son August Ewertz. The barrels of the pistols are rifled, seven-sided on the inside, the butt is decorated with a rocaille motif and the brass parts use a floral ornament. The butt pommels, including the fitting, are slightly flattened. Both pieces were modernised later by converting the flintlock with a flint and pan to a percussion lock with a nipple, over which a percussion cap was fitted, allowing the bullet to be fired from the barrel. This was a common practice at the time when the cap lock became widespread, to improve the weapon and prolong its use. Justyna Bądkowska