A little pistol for comments

[Matchlock]

Hi Nando and Manolo,

I could not acccess the forum for two days because of server problems. Now here is what I found out.

I am still convinced that the decorative style of the pistol is French by origin although I cannot prove it. Neither am I able to name the basic differences between French and English flintlocks - sorry, Manolo, there are too many over three centuries of flintlock development. I could do this with sufficient material on matchlocks and wheel-locks but ... no, I won't dare that ...

Nando, I would date your pistol to about 1730-40 on the grounds of the banana shaped concave moulding in the lower edge of the rear part of the lock plate because this is an international dating criterion common to all flintlocks of the said decades.

I attach scans of Italian miquelets, and even one from Vienna, Austria proving that these locks 'alla catalana', and of mediterranean origin, as Arne Hoff put it (Feuerwaffen I, 1969, p. 233) were widely copied while the rest of those guns mostly kept their national characteristics.

Finally I found two Spanish pistols very close to Nando's in the firearms catalog of the Museo Arqueologico Nacional, so please enjoy.

Best,
Mike(y)