Hi Hommine,
Very interesting examples! Since firearms are way out of my field, I decided to go for a joyride with my trusty Elgood! ("The Arms and Armour of Arabia", Robert Elgood, 1994, London), which has a great section on firearms.
Apparantly the tribesmen in Oman do very much favor the matchlock (binduk), and most of these either come from India (Elgood notes the shape of stock as butt as 'Tanjore' style) and via trade dhows from the western coast. It is interesting reading of the tremendous marksmanship with these anachronistic weapons, but the tribesmen seem to endure well the equally tremendous side effects of firing them. Apparantly the extreme caliber (kafal) of these, as well as the coarse powder charge (powder =barut) gives powerful recoil, which is the reason for the large padded hide butt cushion, as well as the hide wrap which strengthens the neck of the stock. From the description of firing these, it makes a .12 guage look like a popgun!
The stocks from India typically are of rosewood, and the barrels are usually from there or duplicated by Omani makers. The makers marks are intended to simulate early examples from 17th-18th c. Iberian barrels as found often in India from west coast trade. The Omani made stocks were of Acacia Arabia (termed locally 'goff') or of Acacia Vera (=sumr).
The brass tubes on the side of the neck are one for holding the lit match, and the other to extinguish. The match is typically cloth, or cord wrapped bruised bark or plaited palm.
I think this information from Elgood gives a good overview with information helpful in looking in your examples, which are excellent to illustrate these most interesting Arabian firearms.
While not necessarily rare, these are most likely 19th century, and by custom, handed from one generation to the next, and highly prized. As noted, it is amazing how these were used well into the 20th century in Arabia.
All the best,
Jim
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