Zeytun Acari Acquired

[AvtoGaz]

A while back, I posted about this rare gun to hopefully correct the misattribution in non-Armenian and non-Turkish sources.

I am pleased to say that in March, I was finally able to acquire one. Although it is missing quite a few barrel bands, it is still a very nice example of a very hard-to-come-by item. This example dates to 1281 Hijri (1864), a few years after the first Zeytun rebellion. It has two inscriptions in the Arabic script. One of them (The second one, I am assuming, the name of the owner) reads "Mustafa Haj Ali". I would appreciate any help in translating the first inscription.

[AvtoGaz]

PS: I didn't touch on this in my first post, but pistols were produced in Zeytun as well. A man usually carried two pistols in his belt.

Here is one example of a Kubur pistol hailing from Zeytun, kept in the collection of the History Museum of Armenia. It is a bit hard to make out, unfortunately no front photo was available, but it looks to me that such intricate woodwork was also applied on pistols as well!

[cyten]

Congratulations on your acquisition! Very nice, I'm heading back to Armenia in a couple weeks, I'll have to check this museum, because the one in Republic Square only had one Shishane and then some Soviet weapons

[AvtoGaz]

Originally Posted by cyten

I'll have to check this museum, because the one in Republic Square only had one Shishane and then some Soviet weapons

Thank you very much! This pistol (and the Zeytun Acari I posted in my original post identifying these weapons) is kept in the museum on republic square, but they just are not on public display for some reason.

That being said, if you are interested in muzzleloaders I would recommend visiting the Yerevan City History Museum on Argishti Street (Museum about the city of Yerevan’s history). There is a very fine collection of Caucasian Miquelet guns on display there. In Armenian those types of Caucasian guns were usually called “Ghrimu Hratsan” (Crimean Guns), as the barrels originated from Crimea. In the past there used to be a gigantic market for locally produced barrels and guns in Karabakh, some of which even was exported to the Russian imperial army. When I say gigantic, I mean gigantic, such a small region of less than 100 thousand was producing about 6000 firearms per year, which was equivalent to 1/5th the total production of all firearms produced in the much much much larger Russia at the time. However, this completely died out presumably sometime in the 18th-maybe 19th century, I suppose these imported barrels became more economical or maybe the Karabakh Guns were not widespread at all outside of Karabakh in the first place.

[AvtoGaz]

Here is another picture from Zeytun, from the early 20th century. Some of these men have modern guns (Dont know anything about European weapons so not sure which ones), and some in the back are still using Zeytun Acaris.