Help With Identification

[Leon/Iowa]

Would like to get an idea of when this gun was made.
What little I know is that it is a smooth bore, missing the frizzen and came from North Africa. It has Belgian markings, and the barrel is 47" long. The bottom of the barrel has a circle with E over LG above a star. Also stamped is 15.2. What I believe is the metric bore diameter. Bore measures .602. Also stamped are what looks like the letters NW. Also stamped what looks like a 3 or 8. Most of the ivory inlays are missing.
Thanks for any help. Leon

 

[wulf]

Looks Algerian but for more information contack
Ricky....He is specialist in these matters..

 

[Trot]

I believe The ELG is a 19th century Belgian proofmark.

 

[curator]

Probably cobbled together from parts in the early 20th century. May have been made for the tourist trade or as a gift for some rural tribesman. Certainly the gunmakers of Liege wouldn't have fitted an "eastern" miquelet lock. Also notice the lock does not seem to be inletted into the stock.

 

[Fred_Dwyer]

1810 or later, yeah not much help. Belgian proof
scroll down a bit to the "ELG*" single mark.
Since it might have been an "export gun," that may narrow it to 1846-1893.
The "NW" could be a makers mark or a date code.

 

[rickystl]

Hi Leon. You have an Algerian long gun. Probably early to mid 1800's. Possibly a bit later. The stock forearms were made about 2/3rds the length of the barrel. Your forearm looks like it may have been shortened a bit ? The large miquelet style lock is often refered to as a toe-lock style due to the position of the dog safety on the toe vs the heel. This style of gun was used by the native people virtually unchanged for some 200 years. After the French occupied Algeria, the Natives were not allowed to own more modern (for the period) type firearms. So the Natives would revert back to their traditional longarms. Hope this helps. Let me know if you would like additional information. Here is a couple pics to show you what the gun would look like if complete. Thanks for posting. Rick.

 

[rickystl]

Also, the locks were inlet only about 1/3 the into the stock. This is true with every specimen I've seen. The barrels were mostly imported from various regions of Europe. The marks on the barrels vary all over the place. Occassionally you will find a mark that is spurious. The gunsmith would make a barrel locally and then stamp a "copy" of a European style mark so as to trick the customer in believeing the gun was worth more. :thumbsup: Rick.

 

[Leon/Iowa]

Thank you for the information. That is very interesting to know about this gun. Leon

 

[bill_iowa]

Thanks to you all for the info. Thanks to Leon/Iowa for posting. I'm a new member. A professor who taught African and English history bought this gun in Algeria or Tunisia in the early '60s. I'm trying to figure out how much effort to put into restoring it. If it was complete, or as beautiful as your gun Rick, the decision would be easy. If I do restore, would I have to fabricate all the missing parts, or are there places that have lock parts, etc. for it? Would it just be better to get rid of this as a parts gun and start with something else to restore? Any advice you could give would be deeply appreciated.

 

[hawkeye2]

I strongly suspect you will find the inlays were bone and probably camel bone.

 

[rickystl]

Hi Bill. It would probably not be worth completely restoring. Even if fully restored, it would only be worth about $700-800.00. And, there are very few collectors for these guns. So the only reason to restore would be if you wanted to keep it.
I probably have the original parts you need to complete the lock, except maybe the hammer "wing"on top. The parts for these locks are virtually identical and interchangeable.
New camel bone inlays would likely be expensive to make, age, and install.
It can all be done, even refinishing the stock - if justified - but only if you want to keep it. Otherwise, it would be considered a parts gun. Would also have to make a new bone butt plate. Just my thoughts. Rick.

 

[bill_iowa]

Thanks Rick. In the words of Jethro Bodine: "I've got some cypherin to do."