Original British Brass Barrel Flintlock Coaching Blunderbuss - HAPPY IS HE THAT ESCAPETH ME - by William Stanton II of London with Spring Loaded Bayonet - Circa 1790

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic Brass Blunderbuss Barreled Flintlock Coaching Gun, made by the London-based maker William Stanton II circa 1790. There were several gunsmiths of the time with the surname Stanton, some closely related, and some not. Regarding William, he was apprenticed to Jon Clark in 1777, and became Free of the London Gunmakers company in 1786. His address is listed as 1 Pleasant Row in Newington, a district in South London. The FRONT of the barrel however is marked with a fantastic "menacing" message: HAPPY IS HE THAT ESCAPETH ME The blunderbuss is all brass fitted, with even the lock plate being brass, and it bears lovely engraved designs on much of the metalwork, which are definitely hand executed. There is a small squirrel on the rear of the lock plate, a hunting hound on the top of the barrel under the bayonet, and a fantastic hunting scene on the butt plate tang, showing a hunting hound following a game bird about to land in a tree. There