View Single Post
Old 12th August 2019, 09:36 PM   #43
kahnjar1
Member
 
kahnjar1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND
Posts: 2,728
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
Stu, thank you!!! These are excellent images, and I think what I like most about these guns is their inherently rugged charm, so appropriate for the tribal warriors of the Khyber and its environs.

The 'standing' lion is of course Persian, and while officially the Lion and Sun of the Pahlavi dynasty of late in Iran, it was of course prevalent in the Qajar dynasty preceding. In Afghanistan, as has been noted, the influences of Persia are profoundly present much as throughout India with the Mughals.
This is an amazing lock, and honestly the first I have seen with the Persian lion. With the previously noted presence of England in Persia and the use of the EIC markings on locks produced there, this is fascinating.

The 'date' on this is in characters I do not recognize, but clearly in imitation of EIC configuration, and it is tempting to consider the Persian Lion and Sun were deliberately placed in lieu of the EIC rampant lion as well.

The percussion lock example is also fascinating and unusual. It will be interesting to find what these 'I' characters added in such a grouping with periods mean. From the obsessive research I have been involved in the past weeks, it seems the percussion locks (of c. 1830s+) were not particularly favored by the tribesmen as obviously, the caps were hard to come by while flints and powder were not.
Hi Jim,
That's the one!! Thank you for posting . The sun??? behind the lion shows clearly on my lock, so at least we now know that it is a Persian lock, or at least a copy of one, and the date is shown in Farsi.
Quality of workmanship of the inside is poor IMHO so one assumes that this is a backyard made lock. I suppose it is possible that the lock plate itself could be original, with the working parts added in a backyard assembly. I guess we will never know for sure.......
Stu.
kahnjar1 is offline   Reply With Quote