Id on these flintlock pistols please!
 

Hello Gentlemen (and Ladies?)

These pistols are for me somewhat of a mystery regarding country of origin and perhaps age.

They came from an old well renowned Polish collection that were scattered in the late thirties.

Length is 49 cm and all steel parts are lavishly decorated with abundance of figures and human faces. I cant pin-point in which cultural context these ornaments belong. I assume that it is from somewhere in middle east/Turkey/Balkans or even africa.
I rule out countries that have islamic religion due to the fact that depiction of humans are not in line with that belief.

Quality is somewhere in the middle and as you can see a bit naive perhaps and some of the figures looks like ancient roman warriors.

These pistols have now been puzzling me for a year and I am thankful if anyone can tell me what it is?

more pictures
 

two more pictures

Hello}
From what I know of the chiseled (chissel and hamer) the work on the forniture seems to me to be cast. The chisel cuts are neater, and here they are rounded and blurred IMHO it is a tourist piece. It would be necessary to know what material they are, also the lock and the barrel

Affectionately

Hello,

Oh no, they are not casted. Its the real deal (steel) and they are old.

Br/Ulrik

Hi

Don't worry, of course they are old and if you don't want them, call me!
I cracked the origin of this kind of pistol a few years ago,

They are Albanian for the North African market

please see

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=montenegro

Ulcinj was a town to the South of Montenegro and an Albanian centre of pistols production. The town had trade links with Egypt and Tunisia.
Albanesi traders and merceneries worked notably with egypt, Tunisa and Algeria

Post 13

:)

Excellent pistols indeed! These types might have seen service with the Corsairs as well!

GREAT NEWS! Thank you! Finally I know what they are from and can they be dated? My guess is the second half och the 18th century or beginning of 19th. Best regards/Ulrik S

It's nice to see some brethren to my example.
I would not be surprised at all Mark if some of these wound up in the hands of Barbary Corsairs.
This is the first pair that I've seen posted here since 2015; I'd guess that they're fairly uncommon.

Oh, I remember your amazing piece, Rick!! Remember me in your will someday! ;) These are amazing guns that transcend the 'rougher' examples sometimes produced in the Mediterranean for the N. African markets.

I appreciate your offer Mark. ;)
This gun was collected by one of my ancestors, Harrison W. Smith (Uncle Harry) who has a botanical garden named for him in Tahiti.
He got around quite a bit; also wrote an article or two for the early issues of National Geographic; one on the Philippines iirc. Hopefully one of my grandsons will take an interest in it along with some of my edged weapons.

Can't add much information that's already been posted here. But a great looking pair of pistols. The locks, while decorated, are typical of the Balkan pistol locks found on these guns.

Rick

Same type of barell in a trombon.