Turkish flintlock pistol nicely decorated

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Ok my friend escrtch
I think Balkans is more appropriate because it is a region.
Ottoman is a period.
Ottomans ruled from Istanbul to Algers and Yemen.
For example, Algerians pistols are very different.
So the region is probably more informative.
Or Ottoman Balkans if you prefer...
Kubur

Kuber, what then is the difference between an Ottoman Turkish pistol and an Ottoman Balkan pistol?

[Kubur]

Woaw it is a hard question.
To be honest I should say nothing.
BUT for me, Turkish is a population from Central Asia.
After the collapse of Ottoman Empire, Ataturk started the process of Turkification and laid the bases of Modern Turkey.
To my own and personnal knowledge, these pistols were produced in the Balkans for the Ottomans. But they are not Turks.
The Ottomans also used Caucasian pistols...
May be I'm wrong... You decide.

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by Kubur

Woaw it is a hard question.
To be honest I should say nothing.
BUT for me, Turkish is a population from Central Asia.
After the collapse of Ottoman Empire, Ataturk started the process of Turkification and laid the bases of Modern Turkey.
To my own and personnal knowledge, these pistols were produced in the Balkans for the Ottomans. But they are not Turks.
The Ottomans also used Caucasian pistols...
May be I'm wrong... You decide.

Kuber, thanks for your reply, and I appreciate your thoughts. In my opinion I have yet to see any distinct evidence that the basic pistol such as the one Cerjak has posted is anything other than an Ottoman pistol. "Ottoman" to me means more than a period of time, it was an empire composed of many different cultures, countries and regions.

When I see weapons and or armor that originated in the Ottoman empire and there is no distinct sign of it being made or used by any particular region, country etc I call the item "Ottoman", such as an Ottoman kilij, on the other hand when an item is known to have come from a distinct region/country that was part of the Ottoman empire I use that region/country in the discription (Ottoman Empire Albanian "Rat Tail" Flint Pistol) or (Ottoman Empire Balkan yatagan).

This is just my opinion based what I have read and observed.

[BANDOOK]

could someone roughly date my pistols which I posted,kubur could help,cheers

[Kubur]

Of course, they are almost like mine.
I would say 1800 - 1840 AD. (for both).
Then these guns were used up to the end of the 19th c.
Best,
Kubur

[estcrh]

Here is a comparison of forum members Ottoman pistols, three of Cerjaks, Kubers, Bandooks and my pair. All very similar with Kubers showing the most difference in my opinion with the front of the barrel being encased in metal.

[estcrh]

The obviously different forum members pistols, three Albanian rat tail pistols, Bandooks, Kubers and mine, and Bandooks Algerian pistol.