pirate pistols

[kevin1961]

Hi. this is my first time on this site. My inquiry is about these two pirate pistols I dont beleive they are real but reproductions but I would like to know alittle more about them if anyone can help there are no markings such as signatures or other markings that I can tell that would identify them I thought mabye someone could possibly identify them by there designs they are approximately 18 inches long and appear s that the working on the barrel is silver lace or some other metal and either pearl or mabey abalony. I have seen pictures of real pistols and the trigger mechanisms look the same there are also designs on the but of each gun that might help shed some light thanks for your thoughts on these guns.

[Texasbadger]

Welcome to the site, I think your pistols have a middle eastern look to them Turkish perhaps, probably tourist items or shop made as they sometimes made their firearms themselves.  Hard to tell from the photos. Just because they look poorly made doesnt necessarily mean they werent functional.  But we are fortunate in that we have an authentic PIRATE WOMAN, to also look at this!

[heavydude]

Check out the following site that has numerous links to resources for antique gun collectors.

http://www.huntingsociety.org/antiqueguns.html

[talesofthesevenseas]

LOL that would be me! Can you get a photo showing the opposite side where the mechanics of the pistol are?

What you have are flintlocks and they look very similar to a couple of antique Afghan pistols that I have. What I need to see is if your pistols have a touch hole over the pan that the powder goes in which would indicate that it was intended for use at one time. Sometimes these are filled in when they are moved into a tourist market, like Texasbadger was saying. It does look to me like it was made for live firing originally and from what I can see on the far side, it looks like it has had a plate removed from the side and was filled in to make it non-functional. FYI a lot of these old middle eastern pistols are extremely poorly made though and are not stable enough to be fired. But they are beautiful and they look great hanging on the wall. I have mine mounted on the bulkhead of our boat next to a map of the "Sandwich Islands".

[talesofthesevenseas]

Also from what I can see it looks like the top part of the clamp that holds the flint may have been sawed off? Lift up the frizzen and look above the pan for a little hole going into the side of the pistol the flint strikes the frizzen which drops a spark into the pan and sets of the powder, which goes into the hole and sets off the powder and sends the ball out the muzzle.