Unidentified pistol

[corrado26]

In my collection there is a pistol that shows the VOC mark of the Dutch Vereenigte Company on its barrel. Obviously the pistol used to have a belthook that is missing but its fixing device is still there. Has anybody here seen such a pistol or at least such a device? Inside the lockplate is a mark "P" (perhaps PISTOR at Schmalkalden)
Total length is 405 mm, barrel length is 234 mm.
corrado26

[fernando]

Originally Posted by corrado26

...Has anybody here seen such a pistol or at least such a device? ...

Udo, i have never seen such pistol but, although it looks like a "normal" one, the fixation device, on the other hand, is both unusual and rather elaborate. Pity the hook is gone but, i realize that often the owners did not use such resource and simply discarded them, as they only caused embarassment; hence rather hard to recuperate them.
And by the way, does this pistol have a French touch; powder pan, butt cap, 'embouchoir' and all ?

[kai]

Hello Udo,

I'm not convinced, that this really is a VOC mark. I've never seen any with the O and C overlapping, much less so heavily... Also there appear to be arrows (which don't seem to vibe with the VOC-V, too).

Any other marks that might fit?

Regards,
Kai

[kahnjar1]

Hi Corrado,
Nice pistol but are you sure it once had a belt hook? Normally belt hooks had 2 screws holding them in place. Also if it was hooked onto a belt, the rammer would likely fall out, as it does not look to be a captive rammer.
Stu

[corrado26]

What else than a belthook should this device be for? I made a drawing how this hook fits in the recess so that it cannot move when the screw is tightly screwed. Your objection because of the rammrod is ok, but as I think that this pistol is made arround 1770/75, there are more examples without a swivel rammer as for instance the French navy pistols 1779 and 1786. The swivel rammers came up not before ca. 1790. And there are hundreds of examples of pistols with belthooks that have just one screw to fix the hook!
corrado26

[fernando]

Udo is right. The parallel recess would lodge whatever system in a way that it could not swing.
And the fact that, if this pistol was hanging down a belt or a bandolier by means of a hook or a ring, would cause the ramrod to easily fall off, well, such would fall off in any case, as the pistol would never be kept by whatever method with its barrel upright. The remedy for this contingency was to build the rod thick enough to get firmly stuck into the stock pipe.
I know of systems where the ramrod had a protuberance that would be caught by a little steel dent in the stock.
And back to this pistol model, allow me to be stuck up with the French influence idea. Here is a confrontation between Udo's example and the French Cavalry an IX (Full details HERE).
... Don't tell me there are no several similarities. Probably this is about a civilian version or a contract, including variations like the hanging device ?

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