Albanian/Turkish inscription and proofs

Mefidk · 26th April 2011, 05:09 AM

Beautiful rifle

Sorry I can't help with the inscription either, in fact I even have one of my own I should post at some point. But I can offer a possible explanation as to the rising interest in these based on my own behaviour. I started collecting these a couple of years ago mostly because swords were getting difficult to ship due to many restrictions in different countries e.g. ebay.co.uk will not carry them, some postal services will not carry them, add customs difficulties and often shipping becomes too expensive for lower priced ethnographic weapons. No restrictions on these old muzzle loaders though, and that, combined with low prices made them an attractive 'second string'. Of course now I'm hooked so the only problem is that I'll need a bigger house if I want to put too many of these on the wall

A.alnakkas · 26th April 2011, 11:16 AM

Am not much into guns but thats one beautiful rifle. Congrats.

Its not written in in turkish nor albanian it looks georgian to me. i could be wrong though (most likely :P)

eftihis · 27th April 2011, 02:55 PM

Well, i am sorry to say that the inscription...is not an inscription!
This is a balkan rifle and the barell locally made for an individual, not an "army contract". All over Balkans people at these times recognised the superiority of Western European made arms, made in organised workshops, and therefore clients prefered to buy "european" instead of local guns. Put it an other way, the seller could sell for more money if it was a "branded" european product. This leaded in 1) so many fake inscriptions (eg Lazaro Cominanzo etc), and 2) to the practise of just putting latin letters assembled with no order or sense on the barell! Well, the client was illiterate anyway, and even more on a foreign language! But he was happy because he had a gun with a "high quality imported european barell".
As for the prices of these guns, their prices rose untill recently due to demand from Greece, since they are guns that were used in our revolution of 1821. However, the economy as all know is very bad, and many people are not only stoped buying, but also start selling the ones they have.... This refers less to true collectors, and more to people that "invested" in these guns having a "stock exchange" mentality. SO my feeling is that prices will fall and normalise again. And more importand, only reall collectors that love them will buy them and not others with the idea of reselling latter.

rickystl · 28th April 2011, 09:51 PM

Hi Marcus. I've only glanced at the Rat Tail Post. I want to read all the responses and maybe add some comments. Have not had time yet, but I will soon.
Mefidk and Eftihis: Thanks for the additional information. I agree. Rick.

28th April 2011, 09:51 PM	#4
rickystl Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: St. Louis, MO area. Posts: 1,632	Albanian Rifle Hi Marcus. I've only glanced at the Rat Tail Post. I want to read all the responses and maybe add some comments. Have not had time yet, but I will soon. Mefidk and Eftihis: Thanks for the additional information. I agree. Rick.

26th April 2011, 05:09 AM	#1
Mefidk Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Denmark Posts: 157	Beautiful rifle Sorry I can't help with the inscription either, in fact I even have one of my own I should post at some point. But I can offer a possible explanation as to the rising interest in these based on my own behaviour. I started collecting these a couple of years ago mostly because swords were getting difficult to ship due to many restrictions in different countries e.g. ebay.co.uk will not carry them, some postal services will not carry them, add customs difficulties and often shipping becomes too expensive for lower priced ethnographic weapons. No restrictions on these old muzzle loaders though, and that, combined with low prices made them an attractive 'second string'. Of course now I'm hooked so the only problem is that I'll need a bigger house if I want to put too many of these on the wall

26th April 2011, 11:16 AM	#2
A.alnakkas Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Kuwait Posts: 1,340	Am not much into guns but thats one beautiful rifle. Congrats. Its not written in in turkish nor albanian it looks georgian to me. i could be wrong though (most likely :P)

27th April 2011, 02:55 PM	#3
eftihis Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chania Crete Greece Posts: 511	Well, i am sorry to say that the inscription...is not an inscription! This is a balkan rifle and the barell locally made for an individual, not an "army contract". All over Balkans people at these times recognised the superiority of Western European made arms, made in organised workshops, and therefore clients prefered to buy "european" instead of local guns. Put it an other way, the seller could sell for more money if it was a "branded" european product. This leaded in 1) so many fake inscriptions (eg Lazaro Cominanzo etc), and 2) to the practise of just putting latin letters assembled with no order or sense on the barell! Well, the client was illiterate anyway, and even more on a foreign language! But he was happy because he had a gun with a "high quality imported european barell". As for the prices of these guns, their prices rose untill recently due to demand from Greece, since they are guns that were used in our revolution of 1821. However, the economy as all know is very bad, and many people are not only stoped buying, but also start selling the ones they have.... This refers less to true collectors, and more to people that "invested" in these guns having a "stock exchange" mentality. SO my feeling is that prices will fall and normalise again. And more importand, only reall collectors that love them will buy them and not others with the idea of reselling latter.