A short balkan musket

[kahnjar1]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Just to feed the discussion
Tirri's Tunisian gun with a stock / butt Ottoman / Algerian
and a lock Portuguese?

Hi Kubur,
Yes the stock shown here is typically Algerian/Tunisian, (2 other Algerian guns shown) but does not resemble the SHAPE and PROFILE of the subject gun. It would appear that the lock has been identified as Portugese but the shape of the butt, although probably Balkan, has not yet been identified as ORIGINATING from a particular region, which is what Eftihis is trying to identify.
Stu

[eftihis]

Somehow, when posting, i missed to mention the inscription that is on the barrel. Hope someone can tell us what it is!

[Philip]

Could you please share a photo of the INSIDE of your lock? I might have some more info on it if I could verify what the internal mechanism looks like.

[kwiatek]

The inscription on the barrel says

ستة ٢٨٢

“Year (1)282” which is equivalent to 1865-6

The other inscription is more tricky. I think it says

عمل ساسي

“Work of Sassi”

Sassi is a name common in North Africa. I am not sure if it derives from a place, in which case it could be understood as having been made in that place. It might also come from Awlad Sassi, the name of an Algerian tribe

[eftihis]

Thank you very much for the translation kwiatek! Dear Philipp, here is the back of the lock.

[rickystl]

Hi Eftihis

Thanks for the lock photos.

The lock looks Portuguese to me also. One difference I notice is that the tumbler has to notches. One for safety and the upper for firing position. The Portuguese locks I've seen have only one firing notch on the tumbler as shown on the lock I posted. There is usually a thumb piece in front of the hammer neck that can be rotated to engage a slot in the neck of the hammer to act as a safety. Maybe yours is a different variant (?)
Philip can address these Portuguese locks better when he returns.

Again, very interesting gun with a mix of cultures.

Rick

[Philip]

Thanks for the additional photos showing us the lock interior.

What you see is perhaps a North African- made version of the most common of the Portuguese-designed flint mechanisms. It's called a fecho de nó or "knot" lock. I can't explain the significance of the term, it appears to be period nomenclature and not a later collectors' neologism, like "miquelet" or "mortuary sword" coined generations after the fact.

Be that as it may, the essentials of the fecho de nó are a typical flintlock tumbler and sear system with half- and full cock detents. On a lock with external cosmetic or stylistic features that are typically Portuguese.

Rick points out that there is a similar-looking one that has a gravity- or thumb operated pivoting stop on the outside of the plate that serves as a safety, engaging a notch at the base of the cock. That type of lock is called fecho meio à portuguesa e meio à francesa, or lock half-Portuguese and half-French. It has a French-style tumbler and sear arrangement (though without half-cock notch) and the Portuguese pivoting safety which is seen on yet further variations of flintlock mechansms from this country. Please refer to post #14 for the late export example that he shared with us.

It's important to note that despite the Portuguese preference for these pivoting safeties, the behind-the-cock "dog" that was popular in parts of northern Europe (especially England) was not favored here.