Decorative Ottoman Style Flintlock Holster Pistol

.56 caliber. 12" swamped octagon to round barrel. NSN. Bright Damascus patterned finish on barrel, bright lock, sheet brass furniture, steel brad decorations, hardwood stock. Decorative single shot muzzleloading flintlock pistol with faux ramrod, applied silver decorations on the barrel, crudely decorated sheet brass side plate and triggerguard and decorative steel brads throughout the stock. The pistol has features that suggest it was a decorative piece, sold in a Middle Eastern bazaar, rather than one intended as a functional weapon, although it does show good age and wear. The excessively heavy barrel, with wall nominally .3" thick is not typical of real Ottoman functional arms, and the face of the frizzen is not grooved, another feature typical of real working arms of the period. Fit and finish is exceptionally rough, particularly inside the lock, where the tumbler is truly crude and the mainspring excessively heavy. The bore has what appears to be an intentional blockage about 8" from the muzzle, with a hole in its center, which would prevent a ball from being rammed home to the breech and with a smaller hole in the center of the blockage that would allow powder to pass through and flame from the breech to potentially ignite powder forward of the blockage. As loading and firing a pistol of this type with an air gap between the charge and the ball would be potentially dangerous, it appears that this was intended for firing blanks only, if any firing was to be done at all, and realistically was probably only intended to be a souvenir for a European tourist on the Grand Tour.

WARNING: Not safe to fire.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.