Circassian Flintlock Pistol (Before & After Restoration)

[peserey]

Fish or hide glue , I think that’s all that was available back then.

Yes, for gluing, but applying it to the surface of the leather from the outside would cause problems. Fish or hide glue dissolves in water and heat, so it would be a problem if your hands got sweaty. My guess is that it's some kind of resin.

 

[Sam squanch]

I guess research the types of pine trees in that area, maybe some kind of pine tar, any tree that produces a stick resin. Maybe they rendered their captives into human glue?

 

[rickystl]

As a side note: An auction here in the U.S. that ends today, included three Circassian rifles and two pistols that were all in good condition. Hammer prices went from $1,200.00 to $2,000.00 USD. Ottoman/Turkish rifles sold as high as $3,000.00 USD.
I can remember back in the 1970's/80's when antique gun dealers would only accept these guns on consignment due to the small collector interest here in the States back then. No longer. The selling prices for Eastern market guns has been increasing every year.

Rick

 

[cyten]

Actually, this is the first time I've seen a Caucasian/Circassian pistol with this visual -only - ramrod...

Here is another example

 

[peserey]

Very nice!
If it still had an original load, the gunflint is probably also original. Can you post a couple pics of the gunflint?
To explain my interest shortly, I study gunflints. We know a lot about the British and French gunflint industries, but very little about the Ottoman and other ones. I'm trying to gather information and material, hoping to do chemical identification of stone sources eventually.
https://www.academia.edu/43036039/Nineteenth_Century_Gunflints_from_the_Nepalese_ArmoryCheers,
John

and here is the flint on it.
12mm x 11mm x 3mm

 

[rickystl]

Looks like black English flint. But a bit darker than usual.

Rick

 

[JBrandon]

and here is the flint on it.

12mm x 11mm x 3mm

Thank you peserey, very interesting. As rickystyl says, black like English flint. But it is certainly not worked in English manner - it is shaped bifacially, not a segment of a blade. It's like the gunflints reported in Albania by Evans in the 19th Century.
You may be right about miquelets for poor quality flint, but the Ottoman empire was huge and did include areas with very good flint. Albania, with a well-known gunmaking tradition, was one of them. The prehistoric flint I have seen from Albania in my limited experience is browns and greys. Turkey also covers a lot of land and has good flint resources in places. In living memory it was dug and flaked for duven threshing sledge blades. But surely the villages also made gunflints further back in time. The best-known flint village is called appropriately Cakmak, in W Turkey, and I have visited another in the Black Sea area. There must have been many more.
It would be nice to have enough original gunflints, plus source examples, to be able to trace the Ottoman gunflint industry, but that's probably a difficult project.
Best,
John