1854-1861 Victorian HMMC (Her Majesties Mail Coaches) Government / WD Broad Arrow Marked 13 Bore Double Barrel Side By Side Muzzle Loading Percussion Guard’s Short \'Coaching\' Shotgun By Edmund Balchin Hull. Sn 21515 13 Bore/gauge Muzzleloader

1854-1861 Victorian HMMC (Her Majesties Mail Coaches) Government / WD Broad Arrow Marked 13 Bore Double Barrel Side By Side Muzzle Loading Percussion Guard’s Short 'Coaching' Shotgun By Edmund Balchin Hull. Sn 21515 - 21515

The early Royal Mail Coaches were similar to ordinary family coaches, but with Post Office livery. The first mail coach ran in 1784, operating between Bristol and London. Delivery staff received uniforms for the first time in 1793, and the Post Office Investigation Branch was established. The first mail train ran in 1830, on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The standard armament for a guard on these coaches and trains was a shotgun or blunderbuss & at least one pistol. Edmund Balchin was an English gunmaker recording as working from 1854-1861 at 72 Mytongate, Hull (se page 75 of English Gunmakers by Baily & Nie. This is an HMMC mail coach or train guard’s shotgun by Balchin Hull. It has short 20 ¼” browned steel barrels and measures 36 ¾” overall. The barrels set side by side have smooth bores which have just light staining and residue consistent with age & use. It has its original walnut stock with chequered panels at the wrist & fore stock. The stock is crisply impressed ‘HMMC’ (Her Majesties Mail Coaches) above Government / WD Broad Arrow Marked and the steel action plates are signed by the maker ‘E. Balchin Hull’. It has steel butt plate & heavy military hammers, double triggers & steel trigger guard with extended tang & ebonised wood ram rod with brass end cap. The weapon cocks & dry fires crisply. The price for this antique mail coaching shotgun includes UK delivery. Sn 21515

£795.00