• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

Old family Flintlock Pistol (French?)

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ScottyB

32 Cal
Joined
Nov 16, 2020
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Hello!

I’ve been gifted this flintlock pistol from my grandmother. She was given to her in the 60’s while living in Plattsburgh, NY, and from I’ve been told was found in the banks of the Saranac River. It’s obviously not in good condition, but has become an important family piece of history. I’ve never been able to find any information about its maker. Would love any help!

Thank you!
image.jpg
image.jpg
7E7D073C-1CD4-4C01-9156-EA1D9BDFE6FC.jpeg
7BDE222B-4EB5-497C-8683-80600B83CBE8.jpeg
13F9B5AA-A261-4664-BCC5-F823C10FDC52.jpeg
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    87.5 KB · Views: 72
It appears to be an Ottoman/Turkish horse pistol. Mind you you, I'm only going by the writing on the embossed brass overlays. The 'figures' are more Seljuk/Mughal, though.

French? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Unlikely.
 
It appears to be an Ottoman/Turkish horse pistol. Mind you you, I'm only going by the writing on the embossed brass overlays. The 'figures' are more Seljuk/Mughal, though.

French? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Unlikely.

Definitely been a melon scratcher. I don’t know if the story my grandmother got was wrong about being found in upstate New York, or there’s just something big I’m overlooking. The only confrontations in that area I’m aware of are the French and Indian War and the Battle of Plattsburgh during the war of 1812...
 
Well, I truly don't recall any Ottoman soldiery taking part in those confrontations, let alone Shah Jehan and the boys on elephants. Maybe the story got mixed up somehow?
 
Well, the story could be true as far as when and where found. Let's say the kids back then were playing with the old gun dad brought back from the war or a trip to the middle east. They left it lay and never came back for it and dad thought it was just a piece of junk or dad never could get an answer or didn't care it was gone, so there it was.

When I was a grade schooler my grandpa gave me an old damascus double twelve to play " cowboys and indians" with. He drove some wood into the chambers so I couldn't load a shell. It layed around the yard for years until it ended up who knows where on the farm. This would have been in the 50s.
 
Hello!

I’ve been gifted this flintlock pistol from my grandmother. She was given to her in the 60’s while living in Plattsburgh, NY, and from I’ve been told was found in the banks of the Saranac River. It’s obviously not in good condition, but has become an important family piece of history. I’ve never been able to find any information about its maker. Would love any help!

Thank you!View attachment 50535View attachment 50535View attachment 50537View attachment 50538View attachment 50539
That looks like a Prussian 1731 Potsdam cavalry pistol.
 
Hi Scotty

I very much agree with Post #2. And the possible story on Post #5 is believable.
Your pistol is what collectors commonly refer to as a Ottoman Kubur (horse) pistol. These pistols were made by the thousands, and continued in use up to at least 1880 throughout much of the Ottoman Empire. Unless made as a pair there are no two exactly alike. These pistols were made in every imaginable combination of styling/period features. But copying features from Mid-18th Century French pistols seemed especially popular. Brass/silver metal covering all/portion of the gun was popular, especially for Albanian customers. One often un-noticed feature with these pistols is that the trigger guards are usually nailed to the stocks instead of being fastened with screws. Hope this helps.
To give you a better idea, here are two pistols from this Region in good condition.

Rick
DSC00491 (Medium).JPG
 
You have to be careful. I've seen a lot of these that were "tourist trap decorators" I saw one that had a big wood screw that was protruding through the bore. Thats what was holding it together! If the lock is hard to cock and is fitted to the stock haphazard and slipshod its probably a wall hanger. I went to an Indian resteraunt once and saw several pistols similar to this hanging on the walls along with some fake jezails. These guns look good from a distance but upclose the inletting looks like it was done with a dull brick.
 
Back
Top