Musket Barrel for ID

[rickystl]

Hello all.
I'm not sure yet which Forum this should be on. But I'm starting on the Ethno Forum since it appears to be decorated for this market.
The seller thought this might be a Spanish made barrel, with the stampings and small amount of engraving. It was so covered in dirt you could just make out a small amount of what looked like silver at the breech. It's exactly 48" long (not including the breech plug tang) and about .62 caliber. You can see the four spaces where the barrel bands use to sit. The barrel tang hole is threaded. So it's bolt would have come through the bottom of the stock. I thought this barrel might have originally been mounted to a Moroccan snaphaunce musket (?) So I bought it (very cheap). After receiving it, I gave it a good oil cleaning, and look what I found !!!!! The entire top of the barrel is covered in silver. Virtually all of it still intact. What a surprise !!!! There are three stamps on the top flat of the breech, with one having a trace of gold left. And there appears to be some Arabic or maybe Greek script. If so, maybe a Forum member can translate it ?
And, on the bottom flat of the barrel it reads from left to right it reads:
Fort' Fd Sperandio Mutti a Gavdone There is the number 5 and the letter M along with a couple other small stamps.
So this may have been a Spanish/European barrel made for the Eastern market (?). Any help or opinions greatly appreciated. Maybe this should also be posted on the European Forum ? Anyway, here are a bunch of pics. And thanks for looking. You just never know what you'll find under dirt/rust. LOL

Rick

[rickystl]

SOME MORE PICS.......

[rickystl]

LAST TWO.............

[Kubur]

Hi Rick,

Lucky man, really cool stuff as always!

With what did you clean your barrel?
And how you managed to not remove the silver?

I think it's Gardone close to Brescia and it's an Italian barrel (Elgood p. 63).
For the Arabic script and silver decoration, it's very probably from Algiers or Tunis, the translation will help...
Look at our thread on Tunisian guns.

Best,
Kubur

[Kubur]

Mutti Sperandio, Gardone Val Trompia, 1642-1717,
is the barrel maker.

[kahnjar1]

Just beautiful.....what more can one say!!!
Stu

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Mutti Sperandio, Gardone Val Trompia, 1642-1717,
is the barrel maker.

He made many arms for Venice and used to have there a great depot. Also he sold arms to Greece.
corrado26

[rickystl]

Thank you all for your replys. Most helpful.

Kubur: So we have identified this as an Italian made barrel, and it's maker's dates of activity would seem to place this barrel about the turn of the 18th Century. Which makes it earlier than most encountered. Very neat. I can now read the number 152 (upside down) on the bottom flat between the names. The top of the barrel originally had 5 stamps that were all originally gold filled.

Corrado: Thanks for the additional information. The writing on top of the barrel does look more Greek than Arabic. Maybe another Forum member can tell us.
With this evidence, I'm more likely to think this barrel was originally mounted to a Greek Rasak or Kariophili musket. I can tell by the threads in the breech plug tang hole that it was originally mounted to a gun.

Kubur: To clean the barrel, all I did was use Kroil penetrating oil and oooo steel wool, finishing with a degreaser. There was really no rust on the barrel. Just dirt/grime. So it cleaned very easy. I still have to clean the inside. Here is what the barrel looked like when I received it. Imagine my surprise when I started to clean and all the silver starting to appear. WOW !!!

Thanks again for the help. Rick

[Kubur]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the tips.
It's Arabic and reads as follow, but can't do the translation now.
Yes, I imagine your good surprise!
Yes, you are lucky with your early 18th c. barrel!
My guess is that your barrel has a long life, exported to the Balkans maybe for a rasak and then reused in North Africa...
It's really a cool stuff congrats!

[cyten]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Mutti Sperandio, Gardone Val Trompia, 1642-1717,
is the barrel maker.

I have seen this noted on the littlegun.be site with no citation.
Looking into the Encyclopedia Bresciana, Sperandio Mutti is listed as an arms maker working in Gardone Val Trompia in 1848. There is mention of a Sperandio Mutti in 1630, but nothing about being involved with gun making.
http://www.enciclopediabresciana.it/...NE_VAL_TROMPIA
He is also mentioned in "Repertorio storico degli Archibugiari italiani dal XIV al XX secolo" by Barbiroli Bruno where it is stated that he ran one of the 14 gun making factories in Gardone in 1845. He was active from at least 1810-1857.

edit: There is a Sperandio Mutti mentioned that from 1684-1704 owned an arms building shop that supplied to Venice in "Repertorio storico degli Archibugiari italiani dal XIV al XX secolo"