A short balkan musket

[Philip]

Could you please share a photo of the INSIDE of your lock? I might have some more info on it if I could verify what the internal mechanism looks like.

[kwiatek]

The inscription on the barrel says

ستة ٢٨٢

“Year (1)282” which is equivalent to 1865-6

The other inscription is more tricky. I think it says

عمل ساسي

“Work of Sassi”

Sassi is a name common in North Africa. I am not sure if it derives from a place, in which case it could be understood as having been made in that place. It might also come from Awlad Sassi, the name of an Algerian tribe

[eftihis]

Thank you very much for the translation kwiatek! Dear Philipp, here is the back of the lock.

[rickystl]

Hi Eftihis

Thanks for the lock photos.

The lock looks Portuguese to me also. One difference I notice is that the tumbler has to notches. One for safety and the upper for firing position. The Portuguese locks I've seen have only one firing notch on the tumbler as shown on the lock I posted. There is usually a thumb piece in front of the hammer neck that can be rotated to engage a slot in the neck of the hammer to act as a safety. Maybe yours is a different variant (?)
Philip can address these Portuguese locks better when he returns.

Again, very interesting gun with a mix of cultures.

Rick

[Philip]

Thanks for the additional photos showing us the lock interior.

What you see is perhaps a North African- made version of the most common of the Portuguese-designed flint mechanisms. It's called a fecho de nó or "knot" lock. I can't explain the significance of the term, it appears to be period nomenclature and not a later collectors' neologism, like "miquelet" or "mortuary sword" coined generations after the fact.

Be that as it may, the essentials of the fecho de nó are a typical flintlock tumbler and sear system with half- and full cock detents. On a lock with external cosmetic or stylistic features that are typically Portuguese.

Rick points out that there is a similar-looking one that has a gravity- or thumb operated pivoting stop on the outside of the plate that serves as a safety, engaging a notch at the base of the cock. That type of lock is called fecho meio à portuguesa e meio à francesa, or lock half-Portuguese and half-French. It has a French-style tumbler and sear arrangement (though without half-cock notch) and the Portuguese pivoting safety which is seen on yet further variations of flintlock mechansms from this country. Please refer to post #14 for the late export example that he shared with us.

It's important to note that despite the Portuguese preference for these pivoting safeties, the behind-the-cock "dog" that was popular in parts of northern Europe (especially England) was not favored here.

[Philip]

Attached are a couple of photos showing an example of a fecho de nó made in the 19th cent. for export, probably at Braga (Portugal) or Liège. It is "in the white", unused and most likely never installed on a gun. Compared to the obvious production shortcuts and fairly crude finish of the example already on the gun under consideration (not to mention late-production export trade guns from Belgium), the build quality is quite good on this one and the mechanical essentials are the same.

There was quite a market for flintlock guns in Africa down to the eve of the First World War despite the growing use of percussion systems worldwide. Because of the long Portuguese presence in some parts of the continent, there was continued demand for archaic flint systems such as this due to the strength of tradition. The complete guns varied a lot in quality; the typical trade musket was cheaply made, often with a red-painted stock studded with brass upholstery tacks and incorporating a small mirror on the buttstock. (again I refer you to Rick's post #14 showing the extremely rough quality of the locks used on such guns, and his mention of the effort needed to tune it up to work properly). However, one occasionally sees very well made ones, obviously for sale to persons of means. The popular name for these guns in Portuguese style was Lazarinos, in tribute to the Brescian family of barrel-makers who flourished a couple centuries earlier.

[Philip]

Here is a higher-class example of a 19th cent. Liège-made fowler in Portuguese style,of better quality than the average "trade" musket, with a hybrid Portuguese-French lock as explained previously