This sporting air gun shows the classic look of some of the earliest ball reservoir pattern air guns to find popularity in the United Kingdom around the late 18th century and was manufactured or retailed by Bates of London. Air guns of this style were used primarily for hunting. "Wind guns" had several advantages over conventional firearms including that they were quieter, smokeless, quicker to reload, and relatively unaffected by rain. They also required less cleaning since they did not require corrosive black powder like the flintlocks that this example is modeled after. Ball reservoirs were in use since the late 17th century and had the added advantage of being easily swapped out. This piece has a small blade front sight, notch rear sight, swamped part octagon barrel with a wedding band transition, two silver bands at the "breech", and silver inlaid "BATE/LONDON" marking ahead of the rear sight. Floral and stand of arms engraving on the "BATES" marked lock, sideplate, trigger guard, and buttplate tang; a 3 1/2 inch in diameter ball shaped air reservoir, and a finely figured smooth full length stock.

Very good, showing mostly a bright grey patina with some scattered light pitting and mostly well-defined engraving. The cock has a brazed and filed repair. The wood is good with multiple visible splices, primarily around the reservoir port, some showing slightly separating seams, a few other minor cracks, and otherwise generally minor handling marks. The item has not been pressure tested, otherwise appears to function fine.