A Regional Gun Maker

arts, which included a powder horn c 1860, although no powder flasks. Item 1 in this exhibition was a snuff box with an engraved kangaroo. This work is dated c1808 and attributed to B Soully, probably Australian. Item 2 is an earthenware mug, with a “Kanguroo” printed on one side.

This is attributed to the early 19th Century, English Staff ordshire. The prints are attributed to Thomas Bewick’s, “The General History of Quadrupeds, London 1790”.

The lyrebird is not mentioned in this exhibition at the NGV. The lyrebird had been left in the dust by the emu by the mid-19th Century.

Since completing the first draft of this article I was given a book published in 2016, “Endeavouring Banks, Exploring Collections from The Endeavour Voyage, 17681771”, by Neil Chambers. There is an excellent chapter in this book “The Kanguroo from New Holland” where Neil Chambers writes:

“Reproductions of the Stubbs’ image was steadily corrected once further information and specimens arrived in England, and for many years it remained the basis for numerous printed kangaroo illustrations, indeed more than a hundred diff erent engraved versions of it have been identified in a range of literature up to the midnineteenth century, and its likeness has been adapted for flags, stamped, coins and medals.”

I would add “powder flasks” to that list. Although lyrebirds are not mentioned in his book.

I have illustrated another flask with a kangaroo stamped on the neck of the flask. This flask, owned by

POWDER FLASK ARTICLE REFERENCES

The Powder Flask by Ray Riling Powder Flasks in Australia by Wallace Maynard, Caps & Flints, June 1967 Arms Cavalcade - December 2000 by Tony Wood and Paul Duff y Artwork in Focus - Sydney Parkinson, Kangaroo 1770 by Andrea Hope in Australian Art History The Conundrum of the London Kangaroos by Sue Rabbitt Roff , September 25 2020, Pearls & Irritations, John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal Australasian Tokens & Coins by Dr Arthur Andrews 1921 Lyrebird Painting Mystery by Valerie Fowler. Yarra Valley Newsletter, V29, 4 December 2020 Birdlife Convicts Capitalists and Corruption, Newbrygn and the Colony’s settlement west of the Great Divide by Kate Gadsby The Kangaroo in Decorative Arts, catalogue by Terrence Lane of exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria 1980 Endeavouring Banks, Exploring Collections from the Endeavour Voyage, 1768-1771, by Neil Chambers Roly Martin of Australian Arms Auctions in Melbourne is identical to the two similar flasks in my collection they show the kangaroo facing right, and looking back over his shoulder. All flasks also show a bird with a long tail in the middle of the bottom section. Possibly this is a representation of a lyrebird.

I have found one other example of a tinned kangaroo flask. This flask has the kangaroo on the neck of the flask. It was lot 490 in an auction by Cowan’s Auctions in November 2017. The tops of these flasks are similar. Although the tops of the lyrebird flasks have “PATENT” stamped on them. The animal is definitely a kangaroo, facing left and looking back over his left shoulder. I have wondered why the kangaroos are looking back - I really don’t know. Most kangaroos I come across look straight at me.

In my opinion these flasks were designed, and all the parts made in Sheff ield, England probably by Sykes or Dixon. These parts were acquired by Cutts & Frith who assembled the flasks for the Australian market. I have not been able to find any of these flasks in collections in England.

I wish to thank Adrian Rhodes for referring me to the article by Wallace Maynard in the 1967 edition of Wallace e Caps & Flints.

Kangaroo and Lyrebird Flasks - Illustrations

1. Kangaroo and Lyrebird flasks 2. Stubbs - painting of a Kangaroo 3. Broadside handbill with engraving 4. 2” handbill with no engraving and Separate engraving of female kangaroo 5. The Kanguroo - an illustration from Governor Phillip 1817 Wikimedia Common 6. Parkinson illustration 1770 7. State Library Vic engraving of a Kangaroo 1789 8. John Lewin Kangaroo paintings 9. Tasmanian Token 1855. 10. Token Kangaroo 1795. 11. Pidcock Token 1801. 12. Token MacIntosh and Degraves shilling 1823 13. Token - Kangaroo off ice Melbourne 1854 L.J. Taylor. 14. Bukovic Lyrebird. 15. Davies 1802 Manura Superb Lyrebird 16. John Latham 1801 Superb Manura Lyrebird 17. Superb Lyrebird 1804. 18. Lewin Lyrebird 19. Gould Lyrebird 20. Nomenclature of the 19th Century. Conventional Flask 21. I.P. Cutts, advertisement 22. Tinned kangaroo powder flask, Cowans Auction November 2017 23. Roly Martin Kangaroo Flask

9. Tasmania with Emu & Kangaroo 1855 10. Token for an Exhibition of Animals 1795 Thomas Hall

11. Pidcock Exhibition Half Penny Token 1801 12. 1823 MacIntosh and Degraves Shilling 13. A copper, halfpenny token minted by the Kangaroo Offi ce of Melbourne, circa 1851

Thomas Hall, a taxidermist, and showman had a display of stuff ed birds and animals as well as live curiosities. As well as having premises in London, his show travelled around the counties. His tokens were used as trade tickets to advertise his business.

The token is 3 cm in diameter, probably made of copper, for T Hall of Citty (ie City) Road London. The front of the token is inscribed “T Hall Citty Road near Finsbury Square London 1795”, with the rim inscribed “The first artist in Europe for preserving bird beasts”. On the reverse of the token is depicted a kangaroo (inscribed “The Kangaroo”) an armadillo (inscribed “The Armadillo”) and a rhinoceros (inscribed “The Rhinoceros”).

I have found a copper half penny token, undated but issued in 1801. {29 mm in diameter). This was issued for the Pidcock Exhibition. Pidcock was another showman who travelled around the English midlands until 1783, when he purchased Thomas Clark’s facilities at Exeter, Change in The Strand.

By 1799 he is reputed to have imported a pair of kangaroos from New Holland. A joey and this half penny token were the result of this union.

The tokens were manufactured by William Lutwych in Birmingham; the engraving was the work of Charles James (note the “j” under the kangaroo’s tail).

This token off ers a very early representation of a kangaroo, the animal first introduced to European audiences through the George Stubbs’ painting in 1772. Although the engraver has given us a female animal with a joey in its pouch.

This is similar to the second wood engraving of the female kangaroo illustrated earlier with the handbill of “The Wonderful Kanguroo from Botany Bay”.

The first Australian coin or token to feature a kangaroo was produced in 1851, whereas Pidcock’s token was issued 50 years earlier in England.

A Regional Gunmaker

George William Bales

I had never seen a gun made by George William Bales of Ipswich and Colchester. It took the untimely passing of one of our society’s members, for a Bales gun to surface.

By John Newton

Once, when Clay Target Clubs hosted vintage side by side shotgun competitions, the participants would take the opportunity to chat with like-minded enthusiasts about their treasured heirlooms and other old guns which had stimulated their interests. Some clubs also awarded prizes for the most original or best restored vintage guns. Invariably the majority of the firearms discussed would be those of the historically wellknown makers from the “gun quarters” of London, Birmingham and Edinburgh - Purdy, Rigby. Alexander Henry, W&C Scott, Lang, Hollis, Cashmore, Greener, Boswell etc. It was not so often that the name of a regional gunmaker would be added to the mix.

This was certainly not because the regional guns were of inferior quality- many were exceptional- but they were fewer in number and lesser known. There was also a misconception that the quality guns came out of the larger cities. Even now, at the vintage gun auctions, it is the London makers’ guns which get preferential respect over their regional cousins.

Diggory Hadoke, author of several books and editor of the “Vintage Gun Journal” sums up the fallacy with - “Excellent quality does not need a London address”.

Having attended and sponsored quite a few side x side competitions over the years, I have never seen, until recently, a gun made by George William Bales of Ipswich and Colchester.

It took the untimely passing of one of our society’s members, Greg Osborne, for a G.W. Bales gun to surface. Greg was a true ‘Bushy’ who loved his old guns. He was an exceptional shot and his name often featured in the lists of successful competitors at various Gun Clubs across central west NSW.