Stonebow

A stonebow is a modified version of a crossbow, using clay pellets or stones as their ammunition, rather than quarells or bolts. The earliest examples of stonebows began to be made in the 16th century. Stonebows were used as a sporting or hunting weapon. As stonebows use small projectiles rather than larger quarells, they are well-suited to the pursuit of small animals.   This stonebow was crafted by Durs Egg, a gun maker from Switzerland who spend some of his apprenticeship in Paris and eventually settled in England in the early 1770s. He set up his own shop in Princes Street, London, in 1778.