WEEKLY ESTATE & COLLECTABLE AUCTION 4PM START Monday, 2 December 2019 - 4:00 PM start
A scarce 2nd Model Tranter's Patent self-cocking percussion revolver with New Zealand history
Lot Details
c.1854-55, Serial no. 2371T, .54 Bore, 6½" octagonal proof marked barrel, rammer loose, finely chequered walnut grip. Complete with green baize-lined mahogany case. Accessories include Tranter-marked bullet mould, tin for W. Tranter's Lubricating Bullets containing 9 projectiles, nipple wrench, powder flask, oil bottle, ebony cleaning rod and cap tin. Top strap marked 'W. T. Bassett' for William Thomas Bassett, born 1829 in Leicester, England, he married Mary Shipherd in 1865 at Onehunga. Bassett served in the Otahuhu Troop of the Royal Calvary Volunteers as a Lieutenant, (retired as Captain) enlisted on 14 July 1863. A number of these militia were raised in Auckland for the defence of the settlers on the southern frontier of the province during the land wars. Basset with his cousin John Hall had purchased a number of blocks of land and in 1862 they sold three allotments to the Crown. The purpose of these land transactions is not readily apparent, and may have been pure land speculation, as was fairly common at that stage of the colony's history. Another possibility is that they sold the land to the Crown as part of preparations for the British invasion of the Waikato, as one of the blocks was immediately to the west of what was to become Bluff Stockade, an important position for the defence of the Waikato River just south of Pokeno the original terminus of the Great South Road built from Drury in 1862–63. Bassett and his cousin also farmed in partnership in Mangere and became prominent members of the NZ Agricultural Society and the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. Provenance: To his sister and by bequest to her descendant our vendor.
