A pair of miquelet lock pistols with holster of... Lot 29

A pair of miquelet lock pistols with holster of a brigand dating: Mid 18th Century provenance: Calabria, Smoothbore, two-stage, 15 mm cal. barrels, octagonal at the first part with the signature 'PIETRO MORETTA', a brass bust in relief and engraved with floral motifs, then round with rings at the girdle and engraved with floral motifs at the base; engraved tangs. Locks sculpted and engraved with floral motifs. Slightly sculpted, full stocks with brass mounts decorated with masks, trophies and floral motifs partly engraved in bas-relief, counterplates with wild boar followed by a hound in the woods in bas-relief. Brass-tipped wooden ramrods and iron cartridge extractors. Complete with leather saddlebag with brass chapes. One with an old handwritten label (not clearly legible). Interesting pair of pistols, according to the owner belonging to a famous Calabrian brigand called Licata Defazio, captured on the Sila after he killed his wife Tessariella Defazio who had betrayed him.For Pietro Moretti(a) see Barbiroli, p. 380-81. length 41.5 cm.