Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

fernando · 21st June 2011, 12:42 PM

Hi Rick,
I guess you haven't noticed that there are two Fernandos posting here.
Post #7 was done by Fernando K, one of our Spanish speaking members, reason why he posts with a translating resource.

I have consulted a qualified contact from Spain, who confesses he can't figure out who the barrel maker is at looking to those letters. I still think that the problem is not so much that of magnifying the mark but more a question of recognizing it by experience. Very often smiths 'condense' their names in the mark crests, by omitting some letters.
... like G.EL meaning Gabriel, Dieg. meaning Diego, JV meaning Juan, FRAN.co meaning Francisco. They also create 'monograms', like joining two letters in one.
So in some cases you realize what the name is about because you have already identified it before in some listing or the like.
My Spanish source pretends that this barrel mark belongs to a Portuguese smith, but i am quite convinced that it is Spanish, be it Galitian or Castillian.
... like the first group of letters meanning JVAN (old spell for Juan).
Concerning the carbine as a whole, i would suggest this is an arranged setup, something very often occurred with salvaged weapons, namely after wars and conflicts. Local (often regional) smiths get hold of salvaged components of various (often) different firearms and 'invent' new ones, sometimes making themselves some missing parts, as the barrel bands in this one seem to be.
So instead of assuming that this carbine was previously mounted with a flint lock and later updated by a 'miquelete' one, we would better say that the smith picked up a salvaged flint tlock stock and adapted it with a miquelet (patilla) lock to put up a new firearm setup. The stock might not even be Spanish, but one left behind by invasion armies or the like. The mounting of a miquelet lock would be consistent in Spain, even at late dates (not so much in Portugal), as they fancied this system for a long time and they would always have lots of them at hand to use in new arrangements.
Mind you, i am just guessing about the whole thing ... no documented expertize here

.

21st June 2011, 12:42 PM	#10
fernando Lead Moderator European Armoury Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,642	Hi Rick, I guess you haven't noticed that there are two Fernandos posting here. Post #7 was done by Fernando K, one of our Spanish speaking members, reason why he posts with a translating resource. I have consulted a qualified contact from Spain, who confesses he can't figure out who the barrel maker is at looking to those letters. I still think that the problem is not so much that of magnifying the mark but more a question of recognizing it by experience. Very often smiths 'condense' their names in the mark crests, by omitting some letters. ... like G.EL meaning Gabriel, Dieg. meaning Diego, JV meaning Juan, FRAN.co meaning Francisco. They also create 'monograms', like joining two letters in one. So in some cases you realize what the name is about because you have already identified it before in some listing or the like. My Spanish source pretends that this barrel mark belongs to a Portuguese smith, but i am quite convinced that it is Spanish, be it Galitian or Castillian. ... like the first group of letters meanning JVAN (old spell for Juan). Concerning the carbine as a whole, i would suggest this is an arranged setup, something very often occurred with salvaged weapons, namely after wars and conflicts. Local (often regional) smiths get hold of salvaged components of various (often) different firearms and 'invent' new ones, sometimes making themselves some missing parts, as the barrel bands in this one seem to be. So instead of assuming that this carbine was previously mounted with a flint lock and later updated by a 'miquelete' one, we would better say that the smith picked up a salvaged flint tlock stock and adapted it with a miquelet (patilla) lock to put up a new firearm setup. The stock might not even be Spanish, but one left behind by invasion armies or the like. The mounting of a miquelet lock would be consistent in Spain, even at late dates (not so much in Portugal), as they fancied this system for a long time and they would always have lots of them at hand to use in new arrangements. Mind you, i am just guessing about the whole thing ... no documented expertize here .