KNEE PISTOL for COMMENT

[rickystl]

I expect the term "knee" pistol is a more contemporary term. The gun being fired from horseback with the butt of the stock against the knee, theigh, waist, or maybe even the front of the saddle seems to be the only logical explanation.
It's also light enough to be held in one hand like a normal pistol. I don't really see any advantage to this design over a typical horse pistol. But for some reason they remained popular in the Eastern markets for a long time.

Hi Bandook. Yes Stu, that's a good question: Is that a BRASS barrel on your piece? It does look like it from the one photo. To me, the lock looks original to the mortise. Just a bit of wood eaten away from constant use. I too have that photo in my library showing the knee pistol. Very neat. Let us know about the barrel on your's. Don't recall seeing one with a brass barrel.

Rick

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by rickystl

It's also light enough to be held in one hand like a normal pistol. I don't really see any advantage to this design over a typical horse pistol. k

Do not forget that these barrels normally have been loaded with a good handful of buckshot and the appropriate amount of powder. So I think that it was'nt that easy to held the knee pistol in one hand. The recoil was certainly remarkable, so the knee, better the thigh or the saddle would have been the most useful part of the body to rest the stock against.
A knee pistol of my collection in a condition rarely found.
corrado26

[rickystl]

Hi Corrado.

That is a magnificant example, and in ultra fine condition!!!! What a beauty!!!
I would almost be scared to handle it without gloves. LOL!!!
What a fantastic piece to have in a collection.

Rick

[Kubur]

Corrado your firearm collection is amazing.
I'm speechless.
Tell me if i'm wrong, the style of this gun is very French.
I will say around 1805-1815.

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Tell me if i'm wrong, the style of this gun is very French.
I will say around 1805-1815.

Honestly I have to say that I don't know where this piece has been made. Its lock is certainly not French but maybe English and the signature on the lockplate makes absolutely no sense. I think this pistol might have been made in the Osman Empire by a very good gunmaker for a higher ranked person.
corrado26

[kahnjar1]

Hi Corrado,
I see from the pics that you have had the barrel off the stock. Are there any marks on the underside, and if so could you please posts pics. Origin (at least of the barrel) may be solved by such marks.
Stu

[Kubur]

Originally Posted by corrado26

Honestly I have to say that I don't know where this piece has been made. Its lock is certainly not French but maybe English and the signature on the lockplate makes absolutely no sense. I think this pistol might have been made in the Osman Empire by a very good gunmaker for a higher ranked person.
corrado26

Amigo
I'm sure it's French or at least Belgian, early 19th c.
You can find a lot of litterature about these guns made for export - for the Turkish market.
Sometimes they engraved 'LONDON' on the barrel or the lock.
At that time it was very 'chic' to have something from London.
I guess now too.
I think that someone tried to writte LONDON on your lock, but he wrote NULTEN. Clearly the guy was not fluent in English and probably better in Arabic...
Best,
Kubur

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by kahnjar1

Are there any marks on the underside, and if so could you please posts pics. Origin (at least of the barrel) may be solved by such marks.

Sorry, but there are no marks anywhere, neither at the underside of the barrel, at the inside of the stock nor at the inside of the lockplate.
corrado26

[corrado26]

Originally Posted by Kubur

I'm sure it's French or at least Belgian, early 19th c.
You can find a lot of litterature about these guns made for export - for the Turkish market.
Sometimes they engraved 'LONDON' on the barrel or the lock.
At that time it was very 'chic' to have something from London.
I guess now too.
I think that someone tried to writte LONDON on your lock, but he wrote NULTEN. Clearly the guy was not fluent in English and probably better in Arabic...

This wrong signature shows me that it is probably made in the Osmanic Empire. A French or Belgium gunmaker would have been able to write the LONDON-adress correctly because he knew the Roman letters, whereas a Turkish worker without knowledge of the european ABC used very often phantasy letters
corrado26