The Rampant Lion EIC marking
 

In continuing the research on the lock on my jezail of the OP, I wanted to find more on the EIC rampant lion and date on the lock. I was greatly encouraged by Ricky's supportive observations on it likely being authentically original EIC.

While it has certain minor flaws, it does seem more consistent with such which might occur in work of the numerous contractors supplying materials to the EIC rather than the more crude and often misaligned elements of native Afghan examples.

Clearly it has been reworked, probably numerous times in its very long working life, as is common with these long circulating gun locks in these regions.
As has been noted, the use of pins instead or screws, and the working seems to have defaced the head of the lion as well as the position where the company inspection stamp was. The date 1811 seems one of notable production as I have found numerous notations noting it.

One thing I noticed is the hammer on my example, which seems consistent with the earlier Windus examples, while about 1813, the ring in the hammer appeared.
As the rampant lion superceded the familiar quartered heart mark in about 1808 (used until 1830s) it may presume the lock itself could be in accord with the 1811 date.

Photos:
1) an original EIC lock with rampant lion and date 1811
2) Another with rampant lion but date is not visible
3) One of the earlier EIC locks with quartered heart EIC initials/date
4) An EIC heart with curious 'flaunched' separation with initials
According to R.E. Brooker in "British Military Pistols" (1978) this design
was a 'storekeepers mark', however it seems unusual that it would be
seen on a gun lock. This design seems to have been more prevalent in
Bengal regions and on some coins, but I have yet to find notes on that
from research some years ago.

Most of this study was from in the mid 1990s when I was trying to discover if EIC markings such as on gun locks were ever placed on sword blades. According to communications with David Harding who was then compiling his master work, "Small Arms of the East India Company" (4 vol. 1997) they were not. However I do have a bayonet with EIC heart, so that was the exception.

The next photo is the lock on my jezail from OP for comparison,

Thanks very much.
Stu

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.

EIC bale marks
 

In researching EIC markings quite some time ago, I wondered why the '4' atop the quartered heart which seems to appeared on this bale mark sometime about 1770 according to some sources. The quartered heart with VEIC initials remained the company bale mark until 1808, when the rampant lion image replaced it.
Prior to the quartered heart, the mark used was a circle containing the initials G.C.E. (= Governor and Company of East India Merchants).

As noted earlier, the 'flaunched' heart with VEIC was presumed to be a storekeepers mark, and not used as widely as the other.

Returning to the '4', knowing that the EIC markings were intended as bale marks, thus marking company property and goods. One source suggested that such bale marks were also intended to protect property, and had certain amulet oriented imbuement. The '4' in astrological and magic/occult symbolism represented Jupiter , good fortune and protection.
I had noticed that the 4 appeared in numerous other merchants marks, as well as those used by printers and tailors etc.

To me this was far from the suggestions that the 4 was simply an altered cross and orb to avoid offending Muslim trade contacts. When I suggested the possible magical or protective properties as a possible explanation for the 4 atop the heart, it was not exactly well received, however seemed to me still an option.

I add this material here mostly to illustrate the variations of markings which might occur on jezail locks.

Hello again. This Tread is producing some very interesting reading.

Here is my favorite Jazail from my collection. It is only moderately decorated. I had this one restored to firing condition, which I guess is why it is my favorite. LOL This one has a genuine EIC lock dated 1805 with the tail of the lockplate marked: BARNETT, who was a prolific English gun/lock maker during this period. Not only did he make locks/guns for the military, many of his locks were used on trade guns (less the EIC markings) exported to North America.
Notice the internal parts of the lock are up to European snuff. The lock operates strong and reliable.
The barrel was originally rifled, and now has a new rifled liner. But this is a good typical example of a Jazail with a lighter than normal barrel weight that is easy to shoulder. Usually the barrels are extra front-heavy as previously mentioned. Apparently, the original owner wanted something a bit more portable and easy to carry.

I'll post some others with different lock variations as discussed.

Rick

Cool, a lot better to my western eyes w/o the garish decor.

Indeed this thread has brought in some fascinating reading, and again, Im learning a lot through you and the guys here. I have been hard at reading, finding old notes and engulfed in the examples and details you guys are adding.

Your example you have shown here is outstanding, and reflects the 'rugged frontier charm' I have noted with the guns of these Khyber tribes as a no-nonsense fighting weapon. It is good you have restored it to its inherent usable character, and clearly well cared for it.

I know I have seen the BARNETT name a good number of times as a well known maker of these locks for these India pattern muskets. While he and Wilson appear among the most prolific, there are others listed and I wanted to add them with what I found in yesterdays reading:
Blair; Sutherland; Brander; Egg; Goff; Henshaw; Ketland; Potts; Rea; Tow and Twigg.

Another note I found was that the year by the EIC heart or other (such as Tower or BO =board of ordnance) reflected a contract year rather than the year of manufacture. Possibly that explains the same year appearing on so many locks. Apparently 1779 and 1793 were two notable years.

It seems in 1797 the short land pattern production was ceased for that of the cheaper India pattern.

One thing I was thinking of with these jezails, and these authentic locks by these outstanding British gunsmith names. It seems in most cases, these guns are rather dismissed by the broader sector of gun collectors, and it is noted they move rather slowly and do not command high prices. It was that kind of feel I had when I acquired my example, that among collectors these would appeal only to a relatively small sector.

However, these well named locks WOULD be in high demand, for uh, 'innovative' sellers 'improving' existing British gun components (not that this ever happens :) ). I have seen the named lock alone of these flintlocks go for six hundred or more dollars.
I hope that these amazing frontier guns are safely absorbed by those of us fascinated by their history are kept intact as found in situ from the Afghan regions. Obviously these locks were reused and refurbished many times in their tribal surroundings, but keeping them in their final incarnation I would consider most important.

Just some added notes and thinking as the discussion continues, and again, I thank you all so much!!!

LOL! OK, point taken...….I think of Patton when somebody called the grips on his paired pistols pearl...…...instead of the actual ivory!!! :)
You're right on that though, rugged frontier charm is the real deal, but despite the decoration on mine, its character and the lock and very heft called to me.
From what I have read, these warriors were often enthralled by elaborate and flamboyant decoration in their estimation suggesting power etc.

East India Company History & Images
 

Maybe this is not out of place (courtesay Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company
https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=ea...w=1571&bih=786
Stu

There really are conflicting views on these, and it is likely that being assembled by so many local makers there was probably a wide range of quality. I wonder if the jezail design was around in these Afghan regions much before the advent of the supplies of British gun locks in the mid 18th c.
I also wonder if other gun locks, or even if there were Afghan locks made without copying British ones.
I know there were matchlock jezails of course, so presumably these were copied from Indian toradors or other examples?

The effectiveness of these snipers high in cliffs and escarpments in these rugged regions were ideally situated for sniping, and as noted, the use of the bipod was key. I always think of the classic movie "Gunga Din" and these snipers unleashing their fire on the British columns.

Not even Stu!!! Perfect links with great history and overview of the EIC, and the other link very comprehensive with many, many views of these gun locks.
The Wiki history on EIC notes the ' mystical sign of four' I was describing in the heart marking of EIC, with those type symbolisms instead of the disguised cross notion.
Thanks very much.

.....Don't forget that jezails are also found as matchlocks, so yes it is likely that they existed before the availability of British and no doubt other locks.
Stu

I agree for the Sindhi matchlocks.

But I never saw any Pashtun matchlocks...
It doesnt mean that they don't exist, but it's very strange that none of them appeared in Museums or on the market...

i found one here but most likely from the Sindh
plus more examples from another - lucky - forum member...

Hello All.

The interest in these guns (and Oriental guns in general) for antique gun collectors is very much a minority within a minority if you will. LOL There is more interest in the blades and armor among Ethno collectors. I can remember back when dealers would only take these guns in on a consignment basis. The lack of collector interest is the likely reason these guns have historically never brought the prices of their European counterparts. There are always exceptions of course (such as Greek origin guns). However, I have noticed in just the last 3/4 years that the auction pricing for many of these guns has trended upward.

I've only inspected one Jazail of obvious Afghan origin that was matchlock. The others were all of Sindh origin. Although we know they existed. In fact, one of the interesting features of my Jazail shooter above is that the barrel started life as a matchlock and was later restocked as a flintlock. I kept photos of the evidence.

As mentioned, there are more remaining Jazail specimens in flintlock than percussion. This was likely due to the cost and availability of percussion caps. As a curious side note, virtually every gun of Sindh origin I've seen is either matchlock or percussion. There are a couple of flintlock variations in books/museums, but they would be considered quite rare. Almost as if the Sindh skipped the flintlock period and went from matchlock to percussion (similar to the Japanese).

Here is another Jazail from my collection. From a collectors view, this would be a favorite. The entire gun is in original, unmolested condition. The entire circumference of the butt stock is heavily decorated with pearl inlays. There is even an old museum tag this is mis-identified. LOL The barrel is smooth bore. The lock is a genuine EIC lock dated 1811. Since these first photos, I've cleaned the lock but still have to replace 3 missing pearl inlays. The barrel one this one is front heavy as most. Even most of the original black tar protection is present. This one was lucky find.

Rick

AND PICS OF THE LOCK......

The matchlock in Khyber Regions on Jezails
 

It seems I have read that matchlock ignition was used in Afghan regions on jezails for quite some time, so in retracing through Egerton (1880),on pp.140,141 I found:

On Waziris, Afridis and Mahsuds, "...their matchlocks were, until the introduction of the rifled weapons, much superior to our old 'Brown Bess' and carried up to 800 yards with accuracy".

On the Durrani's, cited by Egerton , "Moorcrofts Travels" (1824) notes that they carried matchlocks, with the 'limak' or crooked stock or flintlocks".

It would seem that the 'crooked stock' perhaps may refer to the uniquely shaped 'jezail' (though these references do not use that term) and mentions flintlock, perhaps early entries of the EIC locks.

This is indeed a great thread!

Pease see the write up to the artwork below at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezail...fghanistan.jpg also included in a previous post at #25. Note in this painting the almost invisible two bipods shown on the right hand side of the artwork. These bipods were needed to offset and support the front heavy, long barrels of the jezail but not on all. Often these weapons were made with captured brown bess locks or converted to flintlock from matchlock later.

East India Company 'chop' marks, the 'flaunched heart'
 

In looking into the gun locks used on these I notice that while the earlier ones with the quartered heart prevail (until use of the rampant lion in 1808) there are a good number of examples using a heart with heraldic 'flaunched' design. Both use the same configuration of the initials VEIC.

I thought I had seen this unusual design (semi circles on either side) on an EIC coin at some point and thought perhaps that might yield a clue as to why these are different. It seems that Brooker ("British Military Pistols") thought these were storekeepers marks.
In looking for the coin, I finally found the example, which was a pice (=cent) from Penang, Malay peninsula which became British colony in 1786. It was governed by the Bengal Presidency where these copper coins were minted in Calcutta.

I noticed further that makers Leigh and Barnett were prevalent makers of gun locks for EIC with 1806 issues seen with these 'flaunched' hearts. Mortimer examples (producing in 1790s) also have these hearts.

I am wondering if these locks using this type heart may have been produced for the Bengal Presidency of the EIC? It has not seemed that such specifics would have been likely, unless these makers were attending to certain requirements to a specific regional need of an EIC department.

The fact that the Bengal presidency seemed to favor this design of the EIC chop mark as indicated by these coins from Penang, while it seems in all other areas the standard quartered heart prevailed begs the question, why?

While this may seem an irrelevant query, it seems perhaps it might be pertinent to regional use of certain locks.

What about the barrels? Where did they come from? I understand they were mainly Ottoman (Turkey?) produced? Arguably the barrels are the most important because they have to be very strong and absolutely straight, with twist rifling inside in some cases. Can’t be easy to produce something like that?

A VERY good question, and I returned to Egerton (p.136),
"...Postons describes the Sindian arms as being of very superior quality, particularly the matchlock barrels, which are twisted in the Damascus style. The nobles and chiefs procure many from Persia and Constantinople, but nearly as good can be made in the country".

Op.cit. p.136,
"...the Amirs have agents in Persia, Turkey and Palestine for the purchase of swords and gun barrels".

In the listings in Egerton there are many torador matchlocks listed from Sind, all of which have the remarkably long barrels noted on the jezails, and a good number are Damascus. Many of these are from Sind, but noted with 'Afghan' type stocks.
In other listings are a good number of matchlocks, again with long barrels listed from Lahore and Delhi. Here we can see the long use of matchlocks by the Sikhs well into 19th c. These also had notably long barrels.

While the import of the quality barrels from Ottoman and Persian sources seems occasional, the making and diffusion of these long matchlock barrels would seem to have of course gone well into Khyber and environs, It seems the crafting of these barrels may well have been among the skills that developed in these areas as well.

Well Jim, you really got me going on this thread! Makes me a little sad that I once owned a couple of other Jezails which in a hasty moment I sold.
Anyway I was surfing the 'net and came across this site describing guns from Nepal. Well worth a look, and there are EIC guns there also!
http://www.archivingindustry.com/Gun...s/gunmarks.pdf
Stu

The term jezail for these Afghan guns
 

In looking into the sources for barrels, after going through more on the seemingly invariable use of EIC locks on these guns, I wondered more where the term 'jezail' came from.

Online it simply notes it as a Pashto word for these guns. So looking further I found reference to the armies of Nader Shah, who seized control of the Safavid Empire of Persia in 1730s. Among his forces were musketeers in corps termed 'jazayerchis' for the heavy caliber musket called the 'jazayer'....and these forces had existed from the time of Shah Abbas II (c 1654) using these same guns.

Nader Shah however had these men mounted on horses or mules for strategic mobility, but as dragoons they fought on foot. According to the reference these guns were flintlock, some with miguelet locks and some matchlocks. The barrel bands (rings) were half silver, rest gold (?)

This material I found online in "The Army of Nader Shah", Michael Axworthy
Iranian Studies, Vol. 40, #5, Dec, 2007.
The notes on the jazayer musket are cited from,
"Tadhkirat al Muluk", V. Minorsky ed. , Cambridge , 1943, pp.32-34

Then in reference found the Persian term jaza'il for musket.

These details are of course subject to scrutiny, but I simply added here for further look into the etymology of the word jezail. As always looking forward to insights from the linguists. :)

It seems well noted that Persian influence was powerfully present in all these Central Asian regions, so it does not seem surprising that the Persian word would become cognate in the Pashto language. There were many Afghans in the forces of Nader Shah.

Me too Stu!!
I always wanted one, but as things often go, never got one (OK I wanted to climb on the pyramids too, and get a '32 Ford, but gotta be real!).
All of a sudden Im in the middle of the Southwest in the bookmobile, and bang! I got one! :)
So in my usual insane quest (=research?) I have been at it day and night.
I did come across some of this on many EIC weapons ending up in Nepal, so there's another quest.

What I hoped to do here is get all you guys together who have collected these and experience with them, so I can learn about 'em and so can anyone else out there curious on them can have a good reference source.

Thank you again for all your help on this.

Thank you, Jim. Fascinating how there has always been trade, transfer of knowledge for local manufacturing, and loan words, etc. Nothing new under the sun...

How right you are.All this information is out there, but it takes asking the right questions and finding it. I had not realized about the barrels and was focused on the locks, so thanks to you I was able to look further. I cannot believe how much I have learned on these guns since starting this thread, yet how far from so much more there is to learn.
Its all an adventure !! :)

Other than EIC or locally made locks there is possibly, or probably,a third type of lock that can confuse the issue.
It is known the EIC purchased lesser quality arms for trading purposes, in Africa on the voyage out, and to customers in India etc.
How many, and how they were marked? - I don't know; but it is certainly a possibility that there were British made EIC 'style' locks, but not actually EIC owned, in circulation in India.
Regards
Richard
PS Harding says he does not know why the 'flaunched' balemark was used, but implies it may have strayed from the ownership mark on other EIC owned goods e,g. the lead seals on bales of cloth.

If you have problems in getting a nice Afghan jezail just visit him, he has enough for sale
corrado26

:)

Chicken Street was awash with guns locally made but they are easy to spot and many are more or less the same decoration when no two could be the same..the give aways being various like inside-out letters or no wear on the swivels and look at the trigger guards which are flimsy useless things on the newly knocked up stuff. (the trigger guard on the gun held by the chap in the picture is one of those.)

There was an interesting question on gun barrels and I think elgood points to areas where they were made . certainly Sinde made barrels and also Persian variants were traded...as would barrels be traded in by Ottoman and other countries. I have a couple of pictures of Sinde guns below... which were almost made on the doorstep and in the manner of traditional twist barrel technology.

Very good points Richard, and in examining the varying character of the locks we might find on these jezails, it is necessary to consider the ever present dynamic of trade.
'The evil trade', that is the 'slave trade' was indeed an element of British networks, and the Royal African Company was formed in the late 17th c. where muskets were among the commodities traded for slaves.
Most of the British involvement in this dark trade system was throughout the 18th century, but manufacture of trade muskets continued long after the abolition of slavery in 1833.

Without venturing further into these complex areas, what is known is that the primary source of these 'trade' muskets was in Birmingham, where several thousand 'gunmakers' worked in the 'gun quarter' of that industrial city. Actually, the components were produced by many subcontractors and the locks produced in the regions along road to Birmingham later known as the 'Black Country' (coal presence) and heavy industry.

In addition to those trade muskets produced for the African trade, were the famed 'Northwest Guns' which were made for the North American markets.
These muskets for the Northwest Fur Trade became well known from c1775 and were traded to American Indian tribes. In about 1805, guns for the Hudsons Bay Company trade began using a snake or dragon on the sideplate which became the key criteria for acceptance by the Indians.

As with the African guns, many of these were of notoriously low quality, and their reputation for blowing up with disastrous results brought the terms 'blood merchants' to the makers who produced these, and to the African examples as well. Naturally this poor character did not apply to all examples but was still well known.

One of the most prolific makers of these trade guns (or at least on the locks) was BARNETT . I believe that name was only one I have seen on a Northwest gun, but never on an African example as far as I have seen.

I have not found any particular lock markings on the locks of the African examples of flintlock trade guns but the Royal African Company had a castle and an elephant, so perhaps that might be considered.

With the 'Northwest' guns, the locks were marked often with a circle enclosing a sitting fox like animal facing right below the pan.

While it seems that these varied locks were typically placed on guns to the appropriate distributions, it is always possible that they became diffused into the components of guns being sent to other contract completions. With huge volumes of components to many 'setters up' to assemble them there are many possibilities in the Birmingham context.

Even after the production stages, distribution via trade, there are still many circumstances where weapons may have been captured, traded away, or taken by individuals moving or transporting to other contexts.

All of these situations from 'one off' to larger circumstances such as surplus or replaced arms should be recognized as potentially viable considerations in evaluating weapon examples.

For example, the sale of over 400,000 India pattern muskets to Mexico in 1821 after the end of the Napoleonic campaigns left huge surpluses.
As far as I know, although these were 'India' pattern Brown Bess muskets, they were not marked with EIC trademarks but the standard government inspection and TOWER.


Pictured Barnett flintlock 'Northwest' gun with sitting wolf cartouche below pan.
The flintlock remained in demand well into the 19th century due to the difficulty on procuring percussion caps in remote circumstances, where obtaining flints and powder was far more accessible.

Thank you for these great pics! I am always puzzled by the shape of these stocks. I had the idea that Sind examples were straighter, but in some of the reading I have done the Sind guns are noted with 'Afghan' stocks.
So were these guns being made for Afghan sale or trade, or was there really not such a distinct denominator in the preference?

There can be no doubt of the trade diffusion through all these regions which would have carried Persian goods including arms and parts. The Damascus or twisted steel barrels seem to have been traded considerably rather than fully assembled guns in many cases. I think the thing to remember is that typically, whether England, Europe or Middle East, the components of weapons were often if not typically, produced by various vendors.

I was also reading about octagonal barrels, which seem to come up on many of these guns. It suggests that the octagonal shape on steel stock is far easier to complete as a drilled barrel than the round, and if I am understanding correctly better for hunting and range with sturdier (thicker?) structure.
I don't recall if there were specific areas in Sind for guns or barrels, and while there must have been many places, the one that comes to mind in the Khyber is Darra Khel.

I think this is a hard question as during the times it was simply a practical matter of marking goods, and probably not of vital strategic importance.
It seems there was a certain level of autonomy in the Presidencies, but Bengal seems to have been the only one to deviate with this 'flaunched' heraldic design in its interpretation of the EIC chop mark. If I recall correctly, Harding did not choose to use the term bale mark despite the purpose of these markings for ownership on goods.

As the 'flaunched' mark seems 'officially' used on the coinage of the Bengal presidency (even though Penang) it seems more than simply a storekeepers mark, which is what Harding suggested. With that, its use on these gun locks, it would seem that the makers whose name appear with them may have had specific contracts to that Presidency.

Returning to the question of the 'four' atop the heart, again I recall that Harding did follow the idea that this was an extra line added to the cross (the original GCE mark of early EIC was a cross and orb) to avoid offending Muslim trade partners. He did not agree with my suggestion that it may be the 'mystical sign of four' and representing astrological Jupiter and with talismanic properties in protecting EIC ships and goods.
Also the idea of the '4' being a sail is interesting, as to signify the sail over the heart and VEIC initials signifying their maritime worldwide trade.

The heart itself has been regarded as a Christian symbol, and the idea of the cross being disguised as a '4' to me seems unlikely.

I can not comment either way regarding the FLAUNCHED EIC mark, but according to the records I have of English Gun Proof marks, the QUARTERED EIC heart surmounted by the 4, was in use up 'til 1860.
Stu

The EIC bale mark or chop dilemma
 

I think it is probably right that the quartered heart was likely in use until then in degree as it seems there were certain disparities in the chosen markings used by the Company through its existence ending officially in 1874.
Effectively the East India Company was ended by the Mutiny in 1857, and became governed by the Crown.

I have always been surprised (perhaps not really) that so little is known of the reasons behind chosen symbols used in the time and that mostly such detail seems to be thought of later from assumptions or contrived notions. The logo (bale mark or chop) of the EIC is often regarded as one of the earliest official trademarks, and seems to have begun in with the formation of the Company in 1600.
The first mark, essentially a cross and orb enclosing the initials GCE
'Governor and Company of merchants of London trading to the East Indies'.

In 1698, the Company was reorganized as the English East India Co. and a heart, quartered by a St. Andrews cross enclosing initials VEIC (United East India Co.) was adopted. It is tempting to think that perhaps the St. Andrews cross (the X) represented the Royal House of Stuart then in power, but that would lend to the same line of thinking of the '4' being a disguised cross to avoid offending Muslim trade partners.

While this bale mark does not seem to have appeared on arms that early, it probably was found on cargo etc. I have not yet found when these marks became placed on Company weapons but we know they were on gun locks by latter 18th c. seeming to have been around 1790s.

While the quartered heart appears to have been standard, the curious occurrence of the flaunched heart (half circles from either side of the heart) seems to have taken place from about 1805-1815 and on locks marked by many of the usual known makers.
The only evidence of other use of this distinctive variation of the heart is in the cent coin from Penang (Malay peninsula) in 1786. That was the year this area was taken over by the Bengal presidency. The coins of the next year no longer used this heart marking.

By 1808, it is claimed that the standing lion became the official marking of the EIC, at least on the gun locks, and was said to have remained in such use until c. 1839.

Clearly these dates are not hard and fast, and it would seem by the noted longevity of the quartered heart, that these markings were contemporary to each other. But the phenomenon of the flaunched heart, which remained somehow in place amidst these others for at least a decade, remains unexplained.

It would be interesting to see examples of these EIC locks with dates and whichever marks accompanied them.

Most of the locks dated seem to be from 1790s to around 1815. It is noted that locks were not date marked before 1770s, and it does not seem many after 1815 that I recall offhand.

Penang, EIC and Charles Cornwallis
 

Hi Jim,
You mention Penang as having a connection to EIC. Here is a little history linking the two through Charles Cornwallis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charle...ess_Cornwallis Particularly relevent is the section on the CORNWALLIS CODE.
Also some pics of Fort Cornwallis in Georgetown, Penang taken when we were there a few years back. Hope this is of interest.
Stu

Jim: Again, thanks for starting this super interesting Thread. And thanks for your research. Most helpful.

LOCKS: Every flintlock lock I've examined on a Jazail of Afghan origin was either a genuine EIC lock or a locally made copy. (Although I now recall seeing one with an unmarked European lock that I believe was from Belgium). It's likely the EIC Armories would have spare locks in their inventory to replace broken/worn locks on their muskets. While the British were known for keeping good records, it is conceivable that many of these spare locks found their way into Afghan hands one way or the other. LOL
It would seem that the Afghan gunsmiths/customers considered the India pattern Brown Bess lock and trade variants to be the "standard" for building Jazails (?) Even the locally made copies attempt to stylistically copy the same lock. Also, as mentioned above, we can't exclude the probability of exporting the locks only for sale/trade in the Region.
BARRELS: The barrels on Afghan made Jazails seem to originate from regions elsewhere. Persia, Sindh, even Ottoman. I've even seen one with a Northern Indian style Torrador barrel. One common theme was the re-use of older barrels from different regions. You even see this on better quality Jazails.

Here is another good example from my collection: Also in unmolested condition, this Jazail is heavily decorated with pierced brass and punched iron mounts. The genuine EIC lock is marked HIRST (another prolific British maker) and dated 1799. The lock plate and hammer are flat versus round faced. The most interesting feature is the barrel, which is chiseled and fluted. The barrel (probably Persian) is much earlier than the rest of the gun. There is a Persian style makers stamp on the top breech of the barrel that looks like it was originally gold filled (now missing).I need to study this gun further.

Rick

SOME MORE PICS...........

Woaw Rick this is a masterpiece!!!
The same barrels are on the abufitila Omani matchlocks and according to Elgood they are Persians...

Rick, this topic has indeed become totally fascinating with this thread, and thanks to you and the guys who have brought your experience, examples and expertise into these pages. For me it has been an entire learning curve, and actually it was my goal to learn more on these after I finally found one!
I hoped that this discussion would not only become a kind of resource for material and observations on these guns, but increase awareness of them in the collectors field, and that has definitely been achieved thanks to you guys.

It does seem like the character of these jezails indeed represents that of 'frontier weapons', that is arms which are often, if not typically, assembled with composite components and locally made elements bringing them together.
With the formidable reputation of the jezail itself as a deadly weapon with the skills of both the artisans crafting them and the tribesmen using them, it would seem the British locks became the standard for that particular element.

While the locks themselves seem to have been in abundant supply, the tribal armourers of course learned to duplicate the markings of British EIC locks in degree. Naturally these were more crudely applied and unawareness of the proper associations of the markings' purpose led to incongruent combinations such as VR (Queen Victoria) with 1815 date or similar pairings.
It seems like even when markings were worn off, there were even attempts to 'touch them up'. It is as if the markings themselves carried some sort of imbuement to the power or quality of the weapon.

As you have noted, the possibility of export of these locks into these regions by vendors dealing with the EIC for specific trade with tribal groups is a distinct possibility. There were many instances of such 'private enterprise' with arms in India before and during the 'Raj', and while most weapons filtered through government channels for forces there, there are many cases where items were sent there outside these administrative venues.

I agree with Kubur, this example you have posted with the wonderfully marked lock, the maker who seems well represented in these, and especially that fantastic barrel!! This example perfectly illustrates the kind of comprehensive quality of these guns quintessentially !! :)

Stu, thank you for that link.....I had no idea of Cornwallis involved with EIC. Naturally we know him well in the US from our Revolutionary War history but totally unaware of his extended career into EIC.