Combination Boar Spear Pole Gun

In Europe, the sport of hunting the wild boar goes back many centuries. It usually was hunted using dogs to locate and hold the attention of the boar, until the hunter having neared his quarry, called off the dogs so as to allow the beast to charge. At the opportune moment, the hunter braced the hilt of the hefty spear as to allow the boar to run upon it, impaling itself. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries, most hunters substituted a rifle for the spear. A very few however, still liked the traditional spear. The original owner of this weapon could just not quite make up his mind and had his boar spear made with a 60 calibre insurance policy attached.

This very rare piece of firearm curiosa is of all iron construction. It is a box lock percussion having a .60 cal smooth bore barrel. The gun fired once the three sided blade was embedded up to the cross guard. A very similiar example may be seen on the far right side of page 24 in "Firearms Curiosa" by Lewis Winant. The similiarities and lines are so close, that I am confident both originated from the same maker, unfortunately, neither are marked. It is also my opinion that the pictured example has lost it's original spear and has been replaced with a short spike like bayonet, not really as suitable for hunting as the heftier blade on this example.

Overall length 24 5/8", barrel length 6 5/8", .62 calibre, 6" spear blade, inside diameter for pole 1 3/16", outside 1 1/2".

The patina on this very rare polegun is a deep grey. The side plates on the lock have a simple star and dot engraving. Although the item is for sale, and I do have a price in mind, I will only entertain serious offers as I don't give a tinker's damn if I ever sell it.

Serious offers 1-204-242-2828.

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