Miquelet Flintlock Pistol

[Loyer]

I am hoping a forum collector is knowing about Miquelet locks.

I just bought this and will be receiving it in the mail next week.

Can the forum guys tell me if;

1) this is Spanish style, Roman style or eastern Asia style ?
2) any idea of the pistol's date ?
3) I probably paid too much. What are these worth ?

 

[Sam squanch]

Ottoman Empire. Maybe Albanian? They made these until 1880’s in some areas. Ricky hopefully will see this, he knows more ……

 

[cyten]

That is the plainest Albanian pistol I've ever seen, usually they are covered in brass / gold / silver at least to some degree. and are referred to as "Ledenica" for silver or "Zlatka" for gold. I would argue that your example is perhaps rarer in this way and the fact it more closely follows the Western European form, no barrel bands either. Very cool acquisition!
This particular lock comes from the Ottoman Balkans, Albania/Bosnia/Montenegro/Kosovo/Macedonia.
As for what they are worth, I will leave that to someone else who has more experience in buying, like @rickystl

Here are some close approximations to your gun.

Western European form but covered in silver, thus "Ledenica"

 

[rickystl]

Hi Loyer

Agree with much of what Cyten mentions above. It looks somewhat similar to Albanian pistols, but lacks the metal sheathing covering the wood stock and any barrel bands (both common on Albanian guns). The miquelet lock on this pistol is one of 2 or 3 of the most common locks used on a large variety of Ottoman Empire era guns, including Albanian pistols, The barrel tang screw, position is another common characterization with Albanian gun builders. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that barrel bands were originally fitted. So, for the moment, I'll assume the barrel is fastened to the stock using pins (a Western/European feature).

The style of the brass butt cap and the (now missing) wrist inlay are both very common features of traditional Ottoman/Turkish kubur (horse) pistols of the era. So, while it could have been made by an Albanian builder, I'm just not getting enough signals from this gun that it was. My guess is that this pistol was built from a variety of different surplus parts that the builder had on hand at the time. Could have come from any one of the many small gun building shops throughout the Balkans.

Once you receive the pistol, post some additional photos. Would be interesting to see the left side of the pistol and ask you a couple more questions.

Meantime, here are some typical Albanian pistols...

By the way, the car photo in your I.D., is that an MG-T ? A beauty.

Rick

 

[Loyer]

1951 MG-TD ; 2 years older than I am.

 

[rickystl]

1951 MG-TD ; 2 years older than I am.

My favorite "style" of MG. And I'm one year older than the car. LOL

 

[Loyer]

the left side of the pistol