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Old 30th September 2018, 09:20 PM   #8
rickystl
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: St. Louis, MO area.
Posts: 1,621
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Thank you all for your comments. As Stu mentions, the butt stock style is typical of matchlocks from the Coorg area of South India. As well, to me, the decoration also looks South Indian.
The flintlock is in fact a genuine EIC lock, with this style generally used for trade, The prancing lion will be more visible after cleaning. Notice the extra tapered frizzen that was popular in the South similar to their pistols. The lock works perfectly. Just needs cleaning and the missing mainspring screw replaced (I have an original).
Once the hammer of the flintlock is at half-cock and out of the way, the serpentine for the match piviots to the right and aligns it over the pan in a normal position. Very clever. And notice how the trigger for the flintlock is off set to the right to allow movement of the serpentine. All a bit complicated, but it works.
The barrel still retains it's gold inlay. The rear and front sights are done in more of a Ottoman/Persian style. But the muzzle style and damascus are done in typical Indian. The vent hole looks like it was burned out from usage and welded and re-drilled sometime back in the period. I've seen this before.
So overall, it just needs 2/3 small repairs, a bit of cleaning, and the missing glass stones replaced.
This gun is a good example to show how even well into the flintlock period the Indian Continent was still not willing to discard their matchlocks.

Rick
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