One blunderbuss i would like to have ...

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by fernando

... One big obstacle is that he doesn't need the money .

i suppose marrying him to your daughter, then poisoning him before the honeymoon is not acceptable. (poisoning any existing wife might also be required) of course, would your daughter sell it to you? think out of the box and make him an offer he can't refuse. possibly non-monetary. what of yours could you trade?

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

... what of yours could you trade?

My right hand ... wherever it is, somewhere in South Africa. .

[Norman McCormick]

Originally Posted by fernando

My right hand ... wherever it is, somewhere in South Africa. .

[kronckew]

fancy misplacing that. hope you were left handed. (guess you are now.) ah, well, everyone has a few faults. most firearms and many swords are made for right hand use, and lefties tend to get stuff sprayed in their faces like brass or gasses and unburnt powder residue. lock sparks from the blunderbuss would be stinging i guess. hopefully you can overcome that with a good prosthetic. guess it's too late to reattach the original.

(if you are serious, hope i didn't bring up any bad memories. i apologise if i have. probably an interesting story to go with it, tho maybe not for you. feel free to ignore me.)

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

...(if you are serious, hope i didn't bring up any bad memories. i apologise if i have ...)

Dear Waine,
If this issue caused me any affliction, i wouldn't have pulled the joke in the first place.
In fact i was fully dexter but, no problem with that; my brain got the message. Only have to avoid buying shoes with tying laces.
And... by the way, no prosthetic needed; i am not a guitar player .

[fernando]

Thsnk you Philip,
... for pointing out those references, specially the more suggestive one showing the arabesques in Lavins lock (plate 81).
That the lock in my friend's blunderbuss is inspired in Spanish examples or even having been brought over from Spain, is of course a probability no to be discarded, by all means. After all, most blunderbusses we see around here are of regional engender, composed of varied 'rescued' parts.
Interesting that this gun wear appears to be not only due to natural age but also to intense use, judging by the frizzen face; in a way that its service was more resourced for hunting frequent shooting than in sporadic combat, a more typical purpose for these things ... i would say. Bizarre ?

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

i suppose marrying him to your daughter, then poisoning him before the honeymoon is not acceptable. (poisoning any existing wife might also be required) of course, would your daughter sell it to you? think out of the box and make him an offer he can't refuse. possibly non-monetary. what of yours could you trade?

Aha, Signor Kronckew, I see that you are a renaissance man at heart. From the Italian renaissance of course, what with all the suggestions about poisoning, offers that can't be refused, that sort of thing. Great to hear such sentiments in our day, especially from a chap who believes that dogs have/should have feathers.

[kronckew]

Originally Posted by Philip

... Great to hear such sentiments in our day, especially from a chap who believes that dogs have/should have feathers.

Poisoning was a traditional method, especially of insuring inheritance, since imperial rome, and earlier. favoured for pesky relatives that refused to die on time. quite a few emperors, as well as their rivals, usually relatives, were poisoned. the catholic church was fond of it as well, as priests were (and are) frowned on if they shed blood.

p.s. - poppy, my saluki lurcher cross is my avatar, she has the saluki breed standard feathering on her ears, tail, legs and feet. and she CAN fly along. roughly 40 mph, tho she rarely gets too far off the ground.

[Philip]

Originally Posted by kronckew

Poisoning was a traditional method, especially of insuring inheritance, since imperial rome, and earlier. favoured for pesky relatives that refused to die on time. quite a few emperors, as well as their rivals, usually relatives, were poisoned. the catholic church was fond of it as well, as priests were (and are) frowned on if they shed blood.

p.s. - poppy, my saluki lurcher cross is my avatar, she has the saluki breed standard feathering on her ears, tail, legs and feet. and she CAN fly along. roughly 40 mph, tho she rarely gets too far off the ground.

Clergy not shedding blood -- that's why archbishops who led troops during the early Middle Ages carried maces, not swords since they could probably get away with bonking a guy hard enough to put him out, without making him bleed. And the reason that heretics were burned at the stake during the Inquisition (in fact, in Spain and Portugal the authorities were fastidious enough to limit torture methods to the bloodless ones of waterboarding and the use of pulleys and ropes. )

Dogs -- Oh, that's the story. I had assumed that her breed was descended from dinosaurs which some paleozoologists now believe may have had feathers and proto-bird features. 40 mph is a very respectable speed nonetheless, whether or not she manages to get airborne. Is the world really ready for flying dogs, anyway? How could I handle confusing an eagle with a beagle when I've had too many drinks?

[kronckew]

we are digressing wildly of course ...and will likely be moderated at some point.

'fly' may be a slight exaggeration. the sight-hound (and cheetah) gait is such that their feet actually leave the ground and they do not touch it again for about 5 metres*. salukis and lurchers are slightly slower than greyhounds who can get a bit over 40mph. that is a peak speed. average over distance is slower. my ex-racer, millie, won a stakes race of around 500 yards in a time that works out to about 39.4 mph. made her owner 10k. she was injured in her next race, and i adopted her soon after. sadly gone over the bridge now.

anyhow, priestly impact weapons on unarmoured crania could produce blood. as watching CSI (or NCIS) has amply demonstrated. i recall a certain film where a man of the cloth bonked opponents with one, saying 'god forgive me' after each blow.

to bring us back on topic a bit, i would think a blunderbus would make a reasonable impact weapon after it'd been fired. have seen one with a fold-out bayonet for non-ordained use.

*super-dog:

[fernando]

I should make a repair on my last post; my suggestion that this lock could also have been brought from Spain, is not founded as, in reality, this is a Portuguese pattern, as may be guessed by both ends of the typical 'curly' style frizzen spring, hidden behind the shield.


.

[fernando]

So ... finally mine .
New pictures are not necessarily better but, it obliges .
As usual these local rural blunderbusses are composed of whatever origin components; only that, in this case, they all seem to be Portuguese, contrary to those with British parts, namely salvaged from the Peninsular War.
The frizzen dated 1821 would be the main issue, as this ought to be a replacer, judging by the fact that these 'three screw locks' are certainly earlier (mid-end 18th century ...). It also plays a lot loose, not due ro its visible battery wearing but to its 'foot' being much narrower than its pivot section.
A second note goes for the detail in the upper jaw; a gold 'filet' that is not present inits lower part nor in the rest of the decoration.
There are also traces that the beautiful trigger guard has a story to tell, judging by the wood marks in the front.
A final note for the stock, which seems to be offset, denouncing an 'advanced' procedures.
The side plate a plain brass replacement; i am making arrangements for a local engraver to chisel some decoration familiar to the one in the main lock plate.

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