One blunderbuss i would like to have ...

[fernando]

Thank you tocayo,
To avoid misunderstandings, the attribution of the "Fecho de Molinhas" name is not due to external parts of such lock system but to a specific 'playing' of its internal sears (muelles) and rods (as per attached drawing, positions #9 and #10).
The hammer type in this blunderbuss i am posting we call it here "goat's foot" (pie de cabra).

.

[Fernando K]

Namesake

The # 9 is a double spring, which activates the catch and the trigger. The # 10 is simply a rod, which has its bearing in # 11 and that only serves to guide the trigger

Affectionately. Fernando K

[Fernando K]

Namesake

The rod has a perpendicular projection, on which the trigger is supported, because the trigger of the lock is delayed in the position in the weapon, and thus it advances the position in which its action exerts its trigger of the weapon, not of the key

Affectionately. Fernando K

[Philip]

I hope you do manage to talk the guy out of it eventually. A most interesting and unusual piece. The "goats foot" lock is particularly appealing to me. Baaaaa-aaahd!

[fernando]

Fernando my tocayo.
I am aware that you understand these and other lock systems infinitely more than i do. I am just pondering on the reason why the original authors of this system called it "fecho de molinhas" (muellecitos, little springs), pretending to distinguish it from other mechanisms of this period.

.

[Fernando K]

Dear namesake

My words were not to question your words, but to establish the right. Sometimes you find drawings or diagrams that have been made by people who know little of the subject, or are wrong. It happens that sometimes (for me the majority) one does not have the mechanism in the hands, and must be guided by photographs (incomplete) or by designs, especially in old weapons

A hug. Fernando K

[fernando]

Tocayo mi amigo,
Absolutely no problem .

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Philip

... I hope you do manage to talk the guy out of it eventually...

I already sang him a song more than once ... and will keep trying. One big obstacle is that he doesn't need the money .

Originally Posted by Philip

A most interesting and unusual piece. The "goats foot" lock is particularly appealing to me. Baaaaa-aaahd!

Besides the goats foot, i like the atypical stock and love that frizzen spring 'shield', which must have been the pride of its original owner.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by fernando

... One big obstacle is that he doesn't need the money .

i suppose marrying him to your daughter, then poisoning him before the honeymoon is not acceptable. (poisoning any existing wife might also be required) of course, would your daughter sell it to you? think out of the box and make him an offer he can't refuse. possibly non-monetary. what of yours could you trade?

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

... what of yours could you trade?

My right hand ... wherever it is, somewhere in South Africa. .

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i suppose marrying him to your daughter, then poisoning him before the honeymoon is not acceptable. (poisoning any existing wife might also be required) of course, would your daughter sell it to you? think out of the box and make him an offer he can't refuse. possibly non-monetary. what of yours could you trade?

Aha, Signor Kronckew, I see that you are a renaissance man at heart. From the Italian renaissance of course, what with all the suggestions about poisoning, offers that can't be refused, that sort of thing. Great to hear such sentiments in our day, especially from a chap who believes that dogs have/should have feathers.

[Philip]

Besides the goats foot, i like the atypical stock and love that frizzen spring 'shield', which must have been the pride of its original owner.[/QUOTE]

Fernando,
I recently got my copy of Daehnhardt/Gaier ESPINGARDARIA PORTUGUESA and have been studying the examples of pé-de-cabra locks in the exhibit. The three pistols are all dated to the first quarter of the 19th cent., and the locks have features true-to-form for that era. For instance, the two in plate 11 (p 45) have French-style lockplates; the one in plate 14 (p 51) has a more conservative fecho de molinhas style plate BUT the cock's jaws are at a right angle to the stem which is a late fashion (you see it on later Spanish and Neapolitan miquelet cocks as well). NONE OF THESE LOCKS HAVE FRIZZEN-SPRING SHIELDS LIKE ON THIS BLUNDERBUSS.

The patilha lock on Dom João's hunting gun , plate 2, p 27 has a shield with ornamental curlicue extensions from its lower edge, with a repeated motif on the cock bridle as well. These curlicues are also seen on 17th cent. Spanish patilla locks (see J D Lavin. A HISTORY OF SPANISH FIREARMS, 1965, fig. 22), and survived in vestigial form on provincial locks into the following century (Lavin, plate 81). The shapes on the frizzen shield of your friend's gun appear to me as an especially flamboyant, perhaps provincial, interpretation of this aesthetic. As though a Portuguese gunsmith, familiar with Spanish prototypes, decided to dial up the degree of ornamentation and do one better!

A lot of features of the rest of the gun point to perhaps end 18th cent and later, but the style of the lock, plus the amount of wear and pitting, suggest that it is an older mechanism re-used. I agree that the stock is unusual, but the lock may exceed it in significance and age. Even more reason to try every means to pry it out of your friend's paws.

If money means nothing to him, surely in your collection there must be a piece that he will fall in love with and be willing to swap for.