Caucasian Miquelet "Cossack" Pistol & Locks

XVIIc Wheelock said:

For what? Not much help as the description is quite poor. What does the auction state in the description in Ricks post # 191 above...maybe there is a better description...especially if they want to get a good auction price! It certainly seems the same piece.

Cyten pulled a miracle finding/researching that article or catalogue listing.

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The auction listing has far less information. I don't think the Forum rules will allow me to Post another website (?)

Rick

Rick: In that "Other website"...any clue as to what that crazy creature pistol sold for? Just curious....thanks

XVIIc Wheelock said:

Rick: In that "Other website"...any clue as to what that crazy creature pistol sold for? Just curious....thanks

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It sold previously for $800 +20% buyers fee. I found the current auction and see the starting bid is $1000 +25% buyers fee

Thank you cyten! I wonder if it ultimately sells to a collector or museum?

A beautiful Dagestani pistol that came up for auction.




What really caught my eye about this piece was the date. It is marked "Owner Ahmed, Master Omar" and the date 1299, which would put it at 1881-1882. Latest dated example I have personally seen. Though it could be read as 1266, making it 1849-1850. I do not know Arabic, I just know the numbers, please give your feedback.





And here are some period photos from 1878 showing some good clear details of their arms.

Imeretians


Georgian, you can clearly see the leather knots used to secure the sling


Kabardian


Gurien

Found this on the now defunct flintlockrepair.com site

Circassian horn stocked pistol with an original load


Said it was just over 100 grains of powder but unfortunately didnt state the ball weight or caliber


comparing it to FFFFg which is just left of the original load

Cyten: Thanks for the great pics !!!! Those are super.

The date on that auction pistol shows how late these guns were still in use. Amazing.

REF: Your Post #206. LOL !!!! That pistol is MINE. LOL !!! I remember sending this pistol to him with the load still in it. Since I needed some minor lock tuning, I let him extract the load. We decided not to send the load back to me through the mail since it was loose powder. Earl took a pinch of the powder and lit it with a match. It still worked. I keep in touch with Earl Kathan - who owned Flintlock Repair. He had to stop working in gun repair due to an illness. He has since recovered and is considering doing this work again, even if part-time. Hope he does. I met Earl once at a gun show in Vermont. Since he was driving from NH he asked me if I wanted him to bring the load with him. I told him no. I was flying back to St. Louis. I was nervous that some security dog would sniff it out and I would be in real trouble. LOL Hopefully, some day I may find a way to get it back.
Anyway, that pistol now has a Hoyt liner and is in good shooting condition. I even have a spare Circassian lock for it.

Rick

rickystl said:

Cyten: Thanks for the great pics !!!! Those are super.

The date on that auction pistol shows how late these guns were still in use. Amazing.

REF: Your Post #206. LOL !!!! That pistol is MINE. LOL !!! I remember sending this pistol to him with the load still in it. Since I needed some minor lock tuning, I let him extract the load. We decided not to send the load back to me through the mail since it was loose powder. Earl took a pinch of the powder and lit it with a match. It still worked. I keep in touch with Earl Kathan - who owned Flintlock Repair. He had to stop working in gun repair due to an illness. He has since recovered and is considering doing this work again, even if part-time. Hope he does. I met Earl once at a gun show in Vermont. Since he was driving from NH he asked me if I wanted him to bring the load with him. I told him no. I was flying back to St. Louis. I was nervous that some security dog would sniff it out and I would be in real trouble. LOL Hopefully, some day I may find a way to get it back.
Anyway, that pistol now has a Hoyt liner and is in good shooting condition. I even have a spare Circassian lock for it.

Rick

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LOL what a coincidence! I'm gonna assume the silver stocked Ledenica he worked on was yours as well? Do you have the ball that he pulled from your pistol and do you recall it's caliber and weight?

cyten said:

LOL what a coincidence! I'm gonna assume the silver stocked Ledenica he worked on was yours as well? Do you have the ball that he pulled from your pistol and do you recall it's caliber and weight?

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No, Earl still has all the pieces to the load. I should have unloaded it myself. The ball didn't even have the sprue cut off. LOL I didn't want to pay the hazemet fee to get the powder back.
Yes, that silver stocked pistol was likely mine also. Actually, I think it's Albanian. A real bad to good story with that one. Maybe I should Post the story (?) Is this the pistol you're referring to ?

Rick

rickystl said:

No, Earl still has all the pieces to the load. I should have unloaded it myself. The ball didn't even have the sprue cut off. LOL I didn't want to pay the hazemet fee to get the powder back.
Yes, that silver stocked pistol was likely mine also. Actually, I think it's Albanian. A real bad to good story with that one. Maybe I should Post the story (?) Is this the pistol you're referring to ?

Rick

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Totally get it, hazmat fees are ridiculous. Yes I’d be interested to hear the story, maybe post on the ottoman thread?

Another nice Dambacha with a Circassian lock and silver hallmarked in 1866

Hi Cyten

OMG!!! What a beautiful carbine length. Looks more like a knee type pistol without the blunderbuss barrel. Interesting. And wonderful kindgal dagger sitting next to it. What a pair to own.

Rick

Caucasian guns and charge containers at the Met:

Is that pan charger under the long gun from India, or was that style used all over?

Sam squanch said:

Is that pan charger under the long gun from India, or was that style used all over?

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The general shape/style seemed in wide use throughout. Especially the Caucasus and Greece. Some collectors believe the style originated from Persia. Could be. Even though shaped like a horn, they are usually all metal. Interestingly, I've never seen one made from brass. They are usually made from iron, often decorated with silver. But then, Caucasian accessories, like their weapons, seldom made use of brass in their construction and decoration. I've always found this curious. The rear section of the priming flask usually has a plate or cap with a single screw that allows removal to fill with powder. I'm guessing they could also be used to refill the individual powder containers (Gaziri).

Rick

Sam squanch said:

Is that pan charger under the long gun from India, or was that style used all over?

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The museum website claims that it is Caucasian:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/23383

I recently won this barrel at an auction. I might have been the only bidder as I got it for the opening bid price. It was advertised as an India Torador barrel. Of course, I didn't think it was. Normally I would not bid on a barrel that is percussion. But something about this barrel intrigued me. But I couldn't put my finger on it. Hmmmm. So I received the barrel and had a couple big surprises. The barrel is 45 3/4" long, about .55 caliber, with a dark patina and a cruddy bore. LOL But the bore has (what's left of) 8-groove rifling. The percussion bolster was added later, during the period. The barrel was probably originally mated with a miquelet style flintlock. It's tapered round with a flower muzzle. And there is familiar moldings near the muzzle and breech ends, with a slightly raised central rid most of the length of the barrel. The barrel is very light weight. There is also slight evidence the barrel was originally blued.
So, with this evidence, it suddenly dawned on me. I strongly believe this barrel is from a Caucasian rifle. While most Caucasian style barrels were not usually this long, they did exist. The moldings on the from and rear are very close, if not exactly like you see on other Caucasian rifle and pistol barrels.

Now, the strange part: The breech plug tang has a mounting hole for a flat-top type screw. Unusual. Sometime, probably during the 20th Century, someone brazed on a wedge plate and 5 tiny pins on the bottom of the barrel 3 pins are missing. Fortunately the holes for the pins did not go all the way through the barrel. Maybe someone added these items for some type of display ? Very odd.
Lots of pics....

Rick

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