Pair of flintlock duelling (target) pistols said to have belonged to Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson 1758-1805. The stocks are made of walnut and are fully stocked to the muzzles. The underside of the stocks are elaborately carved with a foliate design while the butts are decorated with a diamond chequered pattern. The butt caps are made of silver with an engraved silver band round the foot. On the upper side of the butts are flattened iron sections in which a hole is punched in order to take a detachable stock. The trigger guards are silver and there are two octagonal sectioned ramrod pipes also made of silver fitted beneath the fore-ends which contains wooden ramrods with silver tips. The locks are sidelock flintlocks. The locks have pronounced rainproof type pans, which are pear shaped and lined with gold. The safety catches are of the bold type and are fitted behind the cocks. The flints are enclosed in leather washers. The pistols have octagonal barrels which are browned. They are decorated with a gold square level with a vent hole and two silver bands in front of V-shaped rear sights. The pistols have blade-shaped foresights. The butt plates are inscribed 'Nelson'. The lock plates are inscribed with the maker's name 'Tatham & Egg'. The trigger guards bear the silver marks of the lion passant, a crowned leopard, 'R', the head of George III and the initials 'MB' which stand for Moses Brent. Contained within the gold square is the name 'TATHAM & EGG'. The association with Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson 1758-1805 must be false as the silver marks on the pistols are for the year 1812, well after Nelson's death. Nevertheless, they are a fine pair of pistols. The silversmith Moses Brent appears consistently on silver mounts of fine quality duelling and target pistols of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.