Balkan gun with early turkish barell

[TVV]

I cannot read the date, but the barrel sure looks very early. Very nice gun overall, but that barrel has the potential to be special,

Teodor

[kwiatek]

Very interesting piece. I don’t think it’s a date. It looks like, with a slightly strange spelling

الحافظا الله

“The Protector is God”

You would instead expect it to be

فالله خیر حافظا

“And God is the best of protectors”

The latter is Koranic (12:64) and common as an inscription on weapons.

[corrado26]

The lock bears at the left side the lion mark of Venice. Probably this gun has been made in the bay of Kotor Boca Kotorska), which stood under Venice government and where have been lots of the well known and wonderful Ledenica all metal pistols

[rickystl]

Hi Eftihis

Almost missed your Thread. WOW!! What an attractive and interesting musket. It certainly does have a Greek/Albania/Turkish flavor to it. LOL

And I agree with Philip's comprehensive comments.

Most of the stock, with it's iron fittings and shape remind me of the Greek muskets. But the butt stock construction reminds me of the muskets from Southern Albania.

As mentioned, the barrel would likely be of Turkish origin. I've never personally seen one up close. You do see barrels from Moroccan snaphaunce with the smaller bulbous muzzle as Philip mentions above. There is a good possibility the barrel is indeed older than the rest of the gun. That would not be surprising. And as Philip mentions, it's a feature that came about during a much earlier period. But, other than aesthetics, I can't come up with a potential reason for the large, over-sized tulip shaped muzzzle (?) I'll have to think about this for a while LOL Also, the decoration and inscriptions on the top of the barrel are most interesting. Don't recall seeing a similar pattern.

If you get a chance, maybe you can take a pic of the bore at the muzzle and a couple pics of the lock.

Again, Congratulations. Great looking addition.

Rick

[eftihis]

Thank you all for your comments! For me the most possible scenario is that this musket was built in a Venetian controlled area, using a captured ottoman barell and a lock from Venetian arsenal. However, the problem is i cannot trace this form of barell in manuscripts and icnography of the period (16th-17th c). Also althought this tye of barell is for sure early turkish. i cannot find it in Askeri museum objects. Also Turkish collectors whom i talked with, they dont know this design! Is it possible taht is a desigm manufactured somewhere in teh Balkans after the ottoman conquest? Here is another musket that uses this type of tylip barell (i thinh in a second use). It belonged to a Cretan revolutionary and is held in the historic-ethnological museum of Athens.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by eftihis

i cannot find it in Askeri museum objects. Also Turkish collectors whom i talked with, they dont know this design! Is it possible taht is a desigm manufactured somewhere in teh Balkans after the ottoman conquest? Here is another musket that uses this type of tylip barell (i thinh in a second use). It belonged to a Cretan revolutionary and is held in the historic-ethnological museum of Athens.

I think you have a point, this type of gun appeared after the Ottoman conquest which as we know was largely completed by the end of the 15th cent.
Do you have access to catalogs of or journal articles based on the museum collections in other parts of the Balkans, such as at Zagreb or Sofia? In the past I have seen publications, in various languages, of arms of different types in museum collections in the Balkan countries. Unfortunately I do not have these in my library, these were published several decades ago so would have to be located on the antiquarian book market.

[eftihis]

Here are some more examples from Elgood's book "the arms of Greece and Balkan neighbors" The last photo is sypposed to be an Italian gun with a turkish tulip barrel, but the photo shows only the stock.