A Spanish escopeta

[celtan]

Nando,

That's just what I thought. Yesterday I received a book.with copious illustrations of Napoleonic french soldiers, many of whom were dragoons.

They were depicted as carrying a carbine hanging from a shoulder belt, or even from the saddle's horn, attached to the gun in the same area yours has that hole. So I guess it was probably a ring, to carry the carbine at the ready while hunting from a horse.

BTW, the flintlock continued to be made and used in Spain until ~ 1850, never mind the more modern Percussion-locks.

Beautiful piece, nonetheless!

Best

M

Originally Posted by fernando

Thank you Mark,
It must be some kind of suspension device, although this intrigues me, as such characteristic would better fit shorter items, like pistols or short blunderbusses and carbines.
This escopeta measures 1,25 mt (1ft 2"); if you held it from the belt by the spot where the threaded hole is, it would nearly touch the ground. And this is no cavalry weapon, i would say?
The truth is that this shotgun has no hanging belt, which is unusual. Maybe this hipothetical ring would do the job ... but how? .
Let them experts pop up and tell us something about that
Fernando