Paltik
 

A slam fire pistol. Circa Philippine Insurrection?
The previous owner told me that it was made by a prison convict, who used it in an attempted escape from a penitentiary.

In the close up photo encircled in green is the trigger post, this holds the barrel at the ready, when the trigger is pulled back, the post drops down and the barrel slides back via a spring. The last photo shows the barrel fully extended ready to fire.

Interesting piece. I have heard of these made during the Philippine-American War and Spanish-American War. I think some of these were made in Batangas so I have been told.

That looks like an old one -- your dating looks right.

Lots of paltiks being made up to 1972 (Martial Law) all over the Philippines. The best ones made in Danao (Cebu province) and in Pototan (Iloilo). Danao specialized in copies of popular revolvers, while Pototan was known for shotguns (called pugakang).

Lol, haven't heard the term pugakang in a long time... Damo gid nga salamat, nong

When MiguelDiaz honored Seattle with a visit, we went to the Burke Museum and viewed among other artifacts several rifles from the same era. It has similar construction.
Battara - Batangas? I wish I knew more. Thanks.
I have been to Danao several times before during my childhood, on the way back to Mandaue, we would stop at Lilo-an and pick up a tin of Titay's Rosquillos.

kino, sir thanks for the kind words! :) but hey, i'm actually just a dumb tourist :D trying to find out what philippine items are in the storage rooms of u.s. museums.

that's a nice paltik you get there, all right. and the jury-rigged part-real, part-dummy (psy-war) phil-am war rifles we saw are here and here.

and while we are at burke museum, here's some more phil. objects -- tabak, 1899 phil. flag, pira, kris (nice blade), kris (a la saber), wavy kampilan, leather armor, and a mysterious object.

Great pictures! Lorenz would you post some of these pictures, pretty please! :D

(links can go away)

Damn !
1b is my Pira !! :D

jose, salamat. unfortunately i can't post the pics here at the forum, because the permission granted by the museum (burke) is for the pics' use just for my 'filhistory' blogs.

but am sure you guys can figure out a workaround ;)

rick, salamat din [thanks, also]. whenever i use any of the macau exhibit pics, i explicitly indicate the source (i.e., macao exhibit, or goo.gl/SEuw which link is the shortcut for http://www.arscives.com/historysteel...nes.swords.htm).

though i know the owner of certain swords, i intentionally don't put the name beside the sword. and that's because i consider that knowledge as privileged info, if not confidential info :)

earlier, i learned or realized that jose (battara) and jon (ibeam) don't mind me putting up their names beside their pieces. so i do that in their case.

but for the rest, until i have been informed that i am allowed to do so, i'll make the attribution of the pic with just the reference to 'macao exhibit' and/or to http://www.arscives.com/historysteel...nes.swords.htm. if i put up the names, then i think that would be a breach of trust. and so i'd rather err on the side of caution by not putting up the names of the sword owner.

just want to make that clarification to everybody, as i do respect a lot the 'fair use' principle, as well as common etiquette.

and am saying all these not because i think rick nor anybody is questioning me or anything! :)

thanks again to all ...

No problems Miguel, I'm glad that you were able to nab that picture; I didn't think the H.O.S. page was up anymore .

If you need any other shots from my collection I'm your man . :)

Rick

Now, back to guns, I seem to remember a pistol that was touched off with a lit cigarette; and what about Slap Guns ?

I always wanted one of these too. I think the one you have is from the Philippine Revolutionary era. It is of the same design and look they used.

Heres a pic of some slam-fire rifles from the 1896 Philippine Revolutionary era also. I took this photo, so sorry for the glare in the pic. But you can somewhat see similarities between the pistol you have and these rifle versions.
These are on display at the Aguinaldo Shrine in Imus Cavite.
http://fototime.com/9745061D7E37EE5/orig.jpg
The Spanish saber below is Aguinaldos most prized and favorite sword. It originally belonged to Spanish General Ernesto Aguirre who Aguinaldo defeated in the Battle of Imus on Sept 3, 1896. Aguinaldo also thought the sword special since the manufacture date on it is the same as his birthday.

Thanks, Rick! If you will have the time (and perhaps under a separate thread?), kindly please post more pics of that nice pira of yours. Let's just keep on adding to the list, the hot drinks I owe you :) Thanks in advance.

Dimasalang, thanks for the pic and info.

Actually I double checked with my father and I quoted him wrong - it is Cavite and not Batangas that is famous for the paltik. (yes I know - Batangas is famous for knives).

BTW Dimasalang - nice pieces and provenance -thanks.