Another Ottoman Pistol

[rickystl]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Hi Rick,
My god, another beauty!
The lock, the barrel and the brass nails, it's so beautiful, a very nice gun and as you said in very good condition. About the brass nails, you have some green inlays inside? Are they made of tainted bone or walrus ivory? Like on the bosnian knifes or some Central Asian kindjal? Frankly I don't know if your gun is from the Balkans or Turkish, too good to be true!
Best,
Kubur

Hi Kubur.
Thanks for the comments. The green reminds me of the green dyed walrus inlays on my Caucasian rifle. But under magnafication it looks to be tiny pieces of green glass. I can't imagine how you would make these tiny triangle bits of glass and inlay them into another tiny brass dot?? But that appears to be what was done. I've seen this dot decoration on a couple of Tufuk rifles. It would take a skilled jewler-like crafsman - especially back in the period -weeks on end to do this. I thought about making some dots from brass rod to replace the four missing ones. But it would never look right. So I'll leave it alone. I should feel lucky there are only four missing.
I too have often thought that this pistol may have actually been Turkish made. But I can't find any marks/stamps on the gun. There are no marks on the inside of the lock. I have not taken the barrel off because the front barrel pin is covered up by one of the dots
By the way, I mis-spoke earlier. The nose cap, like the false ramrod, is not horn but ebony wood.
Rick.