Tinder-pistol (length 5 ins) of iron, with wooden butt; butt engine-turned, with initial-plate of silver inlaid; sides handsomely engraved and inscribed "Jos. Egg, No. 1 Piccadilly, London" (a famous gun-maker in his day); a very exceptional piece, in that it ignites tinder, not by means of a flint-lock, but by means of a percussion-cap; tinder-compartment at end, closed by a hinged lid of brass in front; probably unique, no other example of the kind being known to exist; made probably about 1830. (It cannot be earlier than about 1822, when the percussion-cap, invented a year or two earlier, came into general use, or later than about 1835, when Egg died; by which date, moreover, the modern "cartridge" containing and fired by a detonator, was coming into general use.) England.