Locket-like Pistol Tinder-box (length 1 3/4 in) of black cast iron

Locket-like Pistol Tinder-box (length 1 3/4 in) of black cast iron, corrugated in imitation of the shell of a walnut and inlaid freely with gold; hammer also inlaid with gold; two valves not hinged, but held together with a snap-catch; a very uncommon form; believed to date from about 1660 AD; collected in Japan in 1902 by Mr. Montagu Kirkwood and given by him to the late Mr. R. T. Pritchett, FSA, Limner to Queen Victoria.[Nos 1140-1160 'all belong to an exceedingly well-marked form of the tinder-pistol which is confined entirely to Japan. Externally, most of them bear no resemblance ... to a pistol, ... the mechanism being enclosed in a locket-like box... The locket-case is always of metal ... Inside the box is the pistol action'.]