Hi Dana
WOW!! That EARLY pistol is a beauty. And appears in wonderful condition. It must have been somewhat painful to have to re-ship it. LOL
It appears all iron mounted. The iron piercing decoration on the grip and butt area would have taken a long time to complete, being more difficult than brass or silver to work with.
A couple other things I notice: The trigger guard attaches directly to the stock versus being inlet. An common feature on early guns. The other is the shape of the grip and pommel. From a side view it looks round. But in fact is more oval shaped. I wonder if this was a common design feature on early Ripoll pistols ?
I've seen an English pistol from about the 1640's with the same shape grip.
Anyway, it's certainly a wonderful example of a turn of the 18th Century Ripoll pistol. Offer your friend my congratulations. And mention that he is welcome to send it to me for any future safe-keeping. I'll even pay for the shipping. LOL
Thanks for posting. Rick