English Flintlock Pistol, “Spencer”
Steel, brass and wood
The McBean Collection, Chepstow
The Newport Mansions, Newport, Rhode Island
The Preservation Society of Newport County approached us with this fine 17th century weapon to prepare it for display. With the mechanism in need of lubrication but mostly intact, our main challenge was to selectively reinterpret the surfaces to be attractive yet not overly cleaned – a major pitfall in the art and craft of working with antique objects.