Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Oliver Pinchot · 29th October 2016, 07:59 PM

It is Moroccan, subtle differences in the form and the engraved motifs confirm it. Whether from Tangier or not is more difficult to determine.

The form is, as you say, Spanish. The reason for the lobe on the underside of the stock ahead of the trigger is that the form follows the wheellock, as you suggest. When smiths transitioned from wheellock to miquelet (a much less expensive and more reliable system,) the lobe remained for quite some time. This feature is visible on Eftihis' musket as well.
The earliest of these guns feature a miquelet lockplate which bulges at the bottom edge like a wheellock lockplate, the stock simply mirrors it. Later in its development, the lockplate is flatter along the lower edge, but the space remains and is filled with a separate plate, since the stock retains the lobe. This appears on your example. Finally, it disappears altogether and the stock likewise flattens at that point to conform to the shape of the lockplate.

See R. Held, Arms & Armour Annual, Northfiled, Digest, 1973, p. 121 for an in-depth article on this topic.

29th October 2016, 07:59 PM	#2
Oliver Pinchot Member Join Date: Sep 2012 Posts: 462	It is Moroccan, subtle differences in the form and the engraved motifs confirm it. Whether from Tangier or not is more difficult to determine. The form is, as you say, Spanish. The reason for the lobe on the underside of the stock ahead of the trigger is that the form follows the wheellock, as you suggest. When smiths transitioned from wheellock to miquelet (a much less expensive and more reliable system,) the lobe remained for quite some time. This feature is visible on Eftihis' musket as well. The earliest of these guns feature a miquelet lockplate which bulges at the bottom edge like a wheellock lockplate, the stock simply mirrors it. Later in its development, the lockplate is flatter along the lower edge, but the space remains and is filled with a separate plate, since the stock retains the lobe. This appears on your example. Finally, it disappears altogether and the stock likewise flattens at that point to conform to the shape of the lockplate. See R. Held, Arms & Armour Annual, Northfiled, Digest, 1973, p. 121 for an in-depth article on this topic. Last edited by Oliver Pinchot; 29th October 2016 at 08:11 PM.