A short balkan musket

[Philip]

Originally Posted by eftihis

Again, a north African musket.

Thanks for the numerous photos accompanying your post. Of interest is the fluted buttstock and also a level of fit and finish that is above that of many north African guns (especially those from Morocco). Based on this I believe that the gun, in terms of origin, is European -- it looks like a lazarinha, a trade musket or fowling piece made for export in Portugal or Belgium in the century prior to the First World War. The majority of these went to the Portuguese and Belgian colonies of west equatorial Africa, not to the Maghreb. The use of dome-headed tacks as decoration is common among trade objects destined for this market, along with other objects produced in-culture.

Your gun is in very nice condition compared to most artifacts from the region and is a desirable ethnographic object reflecting its colonial history.

[eftihis]

Hi Phillip,
The barell of the gun speaks in favor of the name you mentioned! It is inscrbed "Lazarino"!!!

[Philip]

Originally Posted by eftihis

Hi Phillip,
The barell of the gun speaks in favor of the name you mentioned! It is inscrbed "Lazarino"!!!

I recognize these markings as being typical of a 19th century trade gun from Braga, Portugal.