German Flintlock Pistol INFO help Please!!

[Toofer1Special]

Hello again everybody,

I came across and interesting flintlock pistol. It's a German pistol with "Wirtzburg" written on the top part of the barrel. It has a 10" barrel and a letter and several numbers stamped on the butt behind the lock mortise. Does anyone know if it was common to have a letter and numbers stamped in this area? Is this some type of an early serial number? Or is that an indication that the pistol is a reproduction??? Any info you have is always greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!

 

[hawkeye2]

That pistol is not a reproduction.

 

[Toofer1Special]

That pistol is not a reproduction.

What gives it away that it's not a reproduction? I know they can create artificial aging and patina on some firearms to make them more antique looking. Genuinely curious because a reproduction value is a few hundred at most....and a genuine original is often much more.

Thank you for replying!

 

[zimmerstutzen]

It was a common practice in some German areas, that each integral part be labeled with a number and/or letter. I had a Hanoverian cavalry pistol and an Austrian cavalry pistol. Both had a similar system of numbers and letters on each metal part.

 

[TFoley]

Dear Mr Toofer1Special - [catchy name, eh?] In most cases, mainly where a SERIES of firearms were made for a particular military unit, they were batch-produced in the manner of early mass-production. Producing many identical guns in this way was made easier for the assemblers by having each set of components similarly numbered to keep all the parts together in one place. These numbers are usually small and not visible on an assembled gun.

On the other hand, being Germanic, it is far more likely to be the butt number - by that I mean that the weapon was probably stored on a rack in an armoury. Mind you, EVERY military unit that holds arms did/does it in one form or another.

Now replicas or reproductions TEND to be made because the original arm on which it is based is either famous, or even infamous, but certainly well-known enough in collectors circles to warrant significant numbers of copies to be made for our delight and delectation. Like the Harper's Ferry pistol, any Colt pistol, the Brown Bess or Springfield musket et al.

This pistol of yours, while a nice piece in its own right, is neither famous nor infamous, and not well-known enough for a manufacturer to take the expensive plunge of putting a replica into production, especially one that would probably share no similar parts with another gun that they produce.

I offer an approximate date for this pistol as the mid-1700's, and also the opinion that it's a nice item for any collection. A few more detail pics would also be appreciated, if you have the time. TIA.

 

[hrt4me]

my maternal grandmother hailed from Würzburg and lived out her days in nearby Bad Kissingen

 

[Toofer1Special]

Dear Mr Toofer1Special - [catchy name, eh?] In most cases, mainly where a SERIES of firearms were made for a particular military unit, they were batch-produced in the manner of early mass-production. Producing many identical guns in this way was made easier for the assemblers by having each set of components similarly numbered to keep all the parts together in one place. These numbers are usually small and not visible on an assembled gun.

On the other hand, being Germanic, it is far more likely to be the butt number - by that I mean that the weapon was probably stored on a rack in an armoury. Mind you, EVERY military unit that holds arms did/does it in one form or another.

View attachment 150408

Now replicas or reproductions TEND to be made because the original arm on which it is based is either famous, or even infamous, but certainly well-known enough in collectors circles to warrant significant numbers of copies to be made for our delight and delectation. Like the Harper's Ferry pistol, any Colt pistol, the Brown Bess or Springfield musket et al.

This pistol of yours, while a nice piece in its own right, is neither famous nor infamous, and not well-known enough for a manufacturer to take the expensive plunge of putting a replica into production, especially one that would probably share no similar parts with another gun that they produce.

I offer an approximate date for this pistol as the mid-1700's, and also the opinion that it's a nice item for any collection. A few more detail pics would also be appreciated, if you have the time. TIA.

Thank you so much for the information! learned a bunch! I will upload a few more pics of it. Now confident in adding the pistol to my collection thanks to your help!

 

[Toofer1Special]

It was a common practice in some German areas, that each integral part be labeled with a number and/or letter. I had a Hanoverian cavalry pistol and an Austrian cavalry pistol. Both had a similar system of numbers and letters on each metal part.

Good to know. Thank you for the information. i appreciate it!

 

[Grenadier1758]

While batch produced guns are identical to the pattern, they are not to be construed to have interchangeable parts. Therefore, each gun has to have its own tracking number to ensure assembly of the proper parts to the individual firearm. We see the same system in use today even though we try to use interchangeable parts.

 

[PathfinderNC]

A picture of the whole pistol from end to end would be dandy. Pictures of both sides would be dandier. And including pictures of top and bottom would be the most dandy of all!