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Originally Posted by Pukka Bundook
... The marks on the barrel are those of Luis Santos, and whether they are correct or a bit later forgeries I do not know. Many Were forged with famous Spanish barrel -maker marks applied, and these were difficult to tell apart from the real ones even in the 18th century.
I did have a short thread about the Santos stamps some time ago, and they Do appear correct....
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Loking at various examples shown and described in the Catalogue of the Real Armeria, we see consistency in a little detail; the
L. for Luis is followed by a minuscle
s. Can you check whether the digit after the
L in your barrels mark is a dot (as i see it) or a
s ? Maybe this could help verify the mark authenticity.
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Originally Posted by Pukka Bundook
... The problem with this is that Luis died in 1721, so if his work, they are Extremely early for a set of double barrels. I Think Keith Neal had seen some from 1723 or so, but these would have to be 1721...
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Good reasoning, Richard. Resulting in that your gun, having a French lock, would be consistent with having late XVIII century barrels of French origin, the famous Spanish master marks being a "marketing" operation.
Quoting two paragraphs in this link:
http://www.thefield.co.uk/shooting/h...shooting-26590.
"While the flintlock and trigger-to-bang time continually improved, the next major innovation was the addition of a second barrel. The earliest examples of guns with barrels held together by soldering rather than the stock were French side-by-sides of the 1730s."
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Originally Posted by Pukka Bundook
...Then, we have later stocking up apparently in the UK, in the early 19th century, and have an Earl's coronet on the wrist...
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And why do think of this as a fact, Richard; the coronet style, or the stock shape ?
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