flintlock, first time poster

[bullmonkey]

Hi, I haven't posted here before so I hope this is in the right place.
I aquired these items but do not know anything about them. If anyone is able to point me in the direction of further information I would be extremely grateful.
The length of the peice is 54cm in total. the barrel is a rounded octagonal shape.
http://julian.pm/flintlock/index.htm
If the pictures I have uploaded are not clear enough please let me know and I will upload better.

ps. the bananas were just to hold the pieces still ;-)

[bullmonkey]

My next question would be is it possible for me to travel from Denmark to England with me?

[dromia]

Welcome!

Right place to talk about smoke poles.

Perhaps you'd also like to introduce yourself on the New Members forum.

[Tower75]

Hi and welcome, bullmonkey.

To be honest with you, an awful lot of these original muzzle-loading firearms are "one-offs" and don't really have a "label".

I can tell you that you have two very nice looking pistols there, obviously made for a chap who has money, based on the engraving and stock inserts, but what "they are" will be hard to say.

During the muzzle-loading era the only firearms that were made to a sealed pattern or model were military arms. The rest, well, they were made by civilians who ranged in skill from novice to master-gunsmith.

A Gunsmith could and would make firearms to a "generic pattern" but the arms themselves would not be a standard model. 10 gunsmiths in London could make 10 flinklock pistols and they would all be different. Most of the time these arms were known by their maker's name.

The only thing that I can really suggest is to try and find a gun-maker's name or initial on the arms themselves and seeing if you can locate info on the maker.

Good luck.

[bullmonkey]

Tower, thanks for your reply. I have looked everywhere and i can find no initials or ident. at all.
What would you suggest cleaning them with?
Are they likely to be of any more valuable than the bananas they are pictured with?
;-)

[ovenpaa]

I would certainly not clean them at this stage, maybe a wipe over with some light oil to stop the rust taking further hold but nothing else. Are there no stamps at all on them?

[Christel]

I know nothing about this sort of thing however I was thinking would the style perhaps be an indication of country/area? What about period? That would be a start to finding a maker maybe?

[bullmonkey]

Nope there is no indication at all. no stamps, initials or hallmarks of any description.

[PaulR]

Welcome to the forum Bullmonkey.

I don't know much about firearms of this type but from what I've seen on various TV programs and from some of my reference books, I would guess that these pistols have been locally produced in the Middle East perhaps even Far East.

Sometimes English pistols are marked under the barrel hidden by the woodwork. However, as these don't appear to be English, I doubt that there will be any manufacturer's markings let alone proof marks. You never know though so it might be worth undoing the rear tang screw and whatever is holding the front of the barrel to the woodwork (normally a wedge but unclear from your photo's) and seeing if there are any markings.

Cheers

PaulR

[bullmonkey]

Many thanks, I may well have a try this evening.