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Hope everyone had a great Christmas. I certainly don't need anymore ham or deer sausage for a while. LOL
Here is another Eastern market gun. Probably the first half of the 19th Century. I thought I would also post this one primarily to show the level of metal work and the high quality barrel, As well as the overall great craftsmanship and condition. The wood ramrod is a newer replacement. The original rod would be iron.
I originally I.D.'ed this gun as a Greek Kariophili musket. The overall design and build characteristics are almost identical to Greek muskets. Except the Greek origin guns usually have decorated triggers, trigger guards, and a somewhat straighter butt stocks. This gun has more curve to the stock, a simple curled trigger, and was built without a trigger guard. So myself and others have concluded it is more in tune with whats called a Rasak musket from Southern Albania. And there was considerable trading and influence between Southern Albania and Northern Greece during this period.
LOCK: The lock is the typical Balkan made miquelet lock found on so many guns from this origin due to their robust build quality and reliability. The lock is un-decorated with a perforated fence running from the frizzen to the hammer, giving it a bit of Persian flair. The lock is in perfect working order. The frizzen face shows very little use.
STOCK AND MOUNTS: The wood stock shows very little handling and is in excellent, solid condition. The metal work, while plain and un-decorated, was done in almost perfect fashion. Although overall plain, there is some very tasteful file and punch work decoration at the butt stock. Incredibly good job of adding metal to wood. All the mounts, including the original barrel bands are iron.
BARREL: Now for a real contrast. LOL The barrel is Ottoman/Turkish, and so signed in two places in Turkish of the period. The breech and muzzle ends are highly relief chisiled with gold wash applied. The decoration is very Ottoman/Turk. The barrel may even be older than the rest of the gun, which would not be uncommon. The bore is about .60 caliber and only had light surface rust that would easily clean. I believe the barrel, as well as the barrel bands were once blued. I say this as both have that blueish/grey color that eventually appears over time when oil is not kept on the period bluing. One signature on the barrel translates to: "Work Of Haci Saban". The other signature translates to: "Owner, Topculu Hoca (Artillery Officer - Master".
Anyway, interesting combination of a generally plain stock and mounts with a highly decorated barrel.
Rick
Here is another Eastern market gun. Probably the first half of the 19th Century. I thought I would also post this one primarily to show the level of metal work and the high quality barrel, As well as the overall great craftsmanship and condition. The wood ramrod is a newer replacement. The original rod would be iron.
I originally I.D.'ed this gun as a Greek Kariophili musket. The overall design and build characteristics are almost identical to Greek muskets. Except the Greek origin guns usually have decorated triggers, trigger guards, and a somewhat straighter butt stocks. This gun has more curve to the stock, a simple curled trigger, and was built without a trigger guard. So myself and others have concluded it is more in tune with whats called a Rasak musket from Southern Albania. And there was considerable trading and influence between Southern Albania and Northern Greece during this period.
LOCK: The lock is the typical Balkan made miquelet lock found on so many guns from this origin due to their robust build quality and reliability. The lock is un-decorated with a perforated fence running from the frizzen to the hammer, giving it a bit of Persian flair. The lock is in perfect working order. The frizzen face shows very little use.
STOCK AND MOUNTS: The wood stock shows very little handling and is in excellent, solid condition. The metal work, while plain and un-decorated, was done in almost perfect fashion. Although overall plain, there is some very tasteful file and punch work decoration at the butt stock. Incredibly good job of adding metal to wood. All the mounts, including the original barrel bands are iron.
BARREL: Now for a real contrast. LOL The barrel is Ottoman/Turkish, and so signed in two places in Turkish of the period. The breech and muzzle ends are highly relief chisiled with gold wash applied. The decoration is very Ottoman/Turk. The barrel may even be older than the rest of the gun, which would not be uncommon. The bore is about .60 caliber and only had light surface rust that would easily clean. I believe the barrel, as well as the barrel bands were once blued. I say this as both have that blueish/grey color that eventually appears over time when oil is not kept on the period bluing. One signature on the barrel translates to: "Work Of Haci Saban". The other signature translates to: "Owner, Topculu Hoca (Artillery Officer - Master".
Anyway, interesting combination of a generally plain stock and mounts with a highly decorated barrel.
Rick
