Hi Silver Veteran.
Don't know how I missed this Thread earlier. Nice pieces, all four. Let's see if I can lend a little more assistance.
The Two Long Guns: The musket with the metal sheathing is in fact called a Tanchika. And it's definitely from Albania. And typical of the style. It is difficult to understand how they shouldered these long guns, especially since most were barrel heavy which added to the already cumbersome fish tail butt stock. The Balkan style of miquelet lock as on yours shows up on every Tanchika I have ever seen. The lock is actually very robust and reliable - when working LOL
The other long gun is as Rudyard mentions, is Moroccan from Taouzilt in the Sous Valley region of Morocco. There were three basic butt styles from Morocco and yours is one of them. The snaphaunce lock on your gun was made locally and copies the English pattern. (The Dutch pattern also shows up on many examples). The gun is also decorated typical of this style.
The Two Pistols: The pistol with the rat tail butt cap could be Moroccan. But stylistically, to me, it looks more Algerian. A question: Does the ramrod travel the full length of the stock to roughly equal the length of the barrel ? Also, is the trigger guard nailed to the stock ? Or fixed with screws ?
The other pistol, from the one photo, looks like it could have been European made - for export to the Oriental market. Would need more photos. It appears to have been made without a ramrod provision - which would be more common than not. They preferred to load their pistols with a separate metal rod called a Suma suspended by a throng around the neck.
More photos of the two pistols - especially with the locks removed for interior viewing of the lock and mortice would likely tell more.
It is difficult, if not impossible to accurately date these guns as most were unmarked and were in use for such a long period of time. The flint ignition was still in use all the way up till about 1880 in this area of the world. These Kubur (horse) style pistols especially came in every variation and style imaginable. And were made at one of the many gun shops in the Balkans. Unless made as a pair, I've never seen any two exactly alike. Barrels and locks were often imported and then assembled and decorated locally. But also complete pistols were made and decorated in Europe and then exported for resale to this market. These pistols were so popular in this market for some 100+ years is likely the reason so many examples remain today.
If you post the other pistol photos per above, we can likely pinpoint a little more.
Most of the Middle Eastern type collectors are into the blades and armour. Consequently, the guns have never brought the prices that there European and North American counterparts do. There simply not as many interested collectors. In fact, in earlier years most gun dealers would only accept them on consignment for resale. Of course there are exceptions, but that has been the general history. Although I have noticed the pricing of these guns at auction have been going up in the last 5 years.
By the way, the two daggers are called Koumaya, and originate from Morocco. They have an interesting two cutting edge design I've never seen on any other knife/dagger.
Rick
