Balkan gun with early turkish barell

[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.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by 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.

Here is an example I have, of Brescian manufacture ca. 1630, built on a non-tulip, non-damascus smoothbore Ottoman barrel. The faceted buttstock has a profile that resembles that of the later Balkan guns called dzheferdar. Here, the incised designs are typical north Italian. The interesting thing about this stock is the prominent bulge ahead of the angular trigger-guard, which is a holdover from earlier wheellock guns, whose mechanisms had an outward shape determined by the size and position of the wheel but which was irrelevant with the now-novel miquelet lock.

[Philip]

The earliest surviving examples of these "Spanish" locks dates from the first quarter of the 17th cent., corroborated by signed examples in museums. This one is believed to be made in Brescia, ca 1630, and the gunsmith would have been working with a new, imported technology. There are stylistic elements carrying over from the wheellock era, but more germane to the students of early Ottoman firearms is the long "bridge" linking the cock pivot screw to the priming pan. This is a characteristic of virtually all miquelets made in the Ottoman Empire, the Caucasus, and Iran down to the 19th cent but is something seldom seen on their European antecedents, except for a handful of published, early specimens.

Other characteristics in common with the later (and much smaller) locks made in the Balkans are triangular jaws clamping the flint in place, and an excessively stiff mainspring. Mature versions of European locks (whether Spanish, Neapolitan, Portuguese, or their German imitations) have narrower jaws and a much more efficient mechanical design using a lighter mainspring but resulting in faster lock time due to reduced inertia in the moving parts.

[Philip]

Just to add some context, here is a mature example of a miquelet lock (in this case from the Eibar region of Spain, ca. 1800-1810, to compare with the early example in the preceding post.

Note that the "bridge" connecting the cock pivot and the pan is absent, and the cock jaws no longer have the triangular "duck foot" shape seen on earlier wheellocks. In contrast, Eastern locks remained extremely conservative, and although some are quite lavishly decorated, little or no effort seems to have been made to improve their mechanical design, or build quality, to keep up with Western versions of essentially the same style of lock.

[eftihis]

Hello Phillip, your latest posts make me wonder if another gun i have is in fact Italian with an ottoman barrel, or it is actualy a turkish copy of teh Italian design... The lock looks turkish from your examples.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22029

[rickystl]

Hi Philip

A good observation and comparison of the Eastern and Western miquelet locks.
I too have never seen any Balkan lock without the connecting bridge. And conversely, I've never seen a Spanish style with the bridge.

Since most of the Balkan style, locally made lock specimens we see today were likely made sometime during the first three quarters of the 19th Century, it is strange they never caught up with the European improvements as you mentioned. And yes, as you mention, even the better quality Balkan locks still don't perform as well as their European counterparts. I've seen well decorated locks that required a high level of skill, that contained mechanical internals that would rate no better than average. I have always found this curious since the reputation for Turkish barrels and blades seem to be held in high regard.

When you consider Morocco was still using the snaphaunce lock, which has it's origins somewhere around the third quarter of the16th Century, it's as if progress in some areas of the East were still on a level of the middle ages.

Here's a good view of the Balkan lock mentioned showing the bridge.

Rick

[Philip]

Originally Posted by eftihis

Hello Phillip, your latest posts make me wonder if another gun i have is in fact Italian with an ottoman barrel, or it is actualy a turkish copy of teh Italian design... The lock looks turkish from your examples.
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=22029

You have an impressive collection of these things! Thanks for linking me to the other thread, I have already posted a dissenting opinion with pics in regards to comments made by someone else.

I am looking thoroughly at the images you posted on that thread, and for the sake of addressing your questions directly, am bringing up some points on this thread, so perhaps readers will get an added perspective on the general topic.

I believe that your lock is European but very early, a transitional model of perhaps the mid 17th cent. I attach a photo from W Keith Neal's classic Spanish Guns and Pistols of a very rare early Spanish miquelet, he assigns a 1640 date to it. You will find some parallels to yours with the profuse and well-executed filework on the parts (Mr Neal's example has deco in the style of the gunsmiths of Ripoll, Cataluña). AND of course the characteristic "bridge" that was to become normal on Eastern miqs but soon vanished from Europe. However, your lock, with the graceful "swan neck" curve to the cock's neck, is more Italian in flavor, I see it repeated on other early transitional snap locks from north Italy, and it's quite common on the later "Roman" style miquelet common in central Italy. Ripoll gunsmiths preferred a short, straight, column-shaped neck on the cock.

Further, the buttstock of your gun shows distinct Brescian style. But please see your other thread for my discussion of this, so readers will not get confused.

There is no question about the barrels, they are of Ottoman or Balkan make but the tulip muzzle is a stylistic imitation of something that originated outside of Italy. So far, I've only been able to pinpoint England as its origin and area of popularity (and this, for a short period of time only based on surviving examples).