Spanish Tower Pistol?

[Paul_R]

I have an opportunity to buy this. The owner inherited it and is pretty much completely cluless as to what it is. He thinks it's a reproduction.

Can anybody identify this and give me a ballpark idea of what it's worth?

There is a stamp across the barrel that says "Spain". Other than that what you can see in the pictures is all there is. Caliber is not stated.

 

[Zonie]

I can't seem to find a picture of that exact pistol but it has a lot of the characteristics of the muzzleloaders that were imported into the US by Stoeger Arms Corp back in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Stoegers imports were not usually a very high quality but being made in Spain would indicate the barrel was probably proof tested. If it was there should be some marking on the bottom of the barrel at the breech.

I don't know what it is currently worth but if I were to guess it would be somewhere in the $100-$150 range, more as a interesting wall hanger than a usable pistol.
If the stock was made out of beech wood instead of the walnut that was used on this gun, its value would be considerably lower.

Actually, the finish on the stock is much better than most of these old imports that I've seen.

From a historical standpoint, the retained ramrod on the swivels was popular with the Navy.

There was less chance of dropping the ramrod while reloading and hanging from precarious places on the masts at the same time.

 

[Paul_R]

Thanks Zonie :hatsoff:

 

[nit wit]

Put a flint in it and see if it sparks and functions well.
Nit Wit

 

[tiger13]

Hard to tell, but how is the gap between the pan and the touch hole? it looks to me in the picture to have a space where some powder could get down behind the lock, and possibly ignite. If you can get good spark from it, you may want to inlet the lock a bit further to seal up that space IF there is space there. Like I said, it just looks like there is some to me in that picture.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The captive ram rod was something frequently included on horse pistols issued to cavalry units. Even on some short muskets. Dixie once sold the "swivels" for such ramrods for those building repros of that style gun. Don't recall seeing it in the recent cats.