4 barrel pistol
- Thread starter wade79
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What is the marking on the top? I can't read it. Such pistols were not too uncommon, though expensive, in the era before revolvers became common. Better pictures might help identify the country of origin (England?) and maker. Take closeup pictures of ALL the markings, including proof markings.
Jim
Jim
Gordon
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German guild pistol most likely made around 1830-45. I like it's trim lines and think it is worth up to $2000 but you might have a hard time getting that. I think it would go fast at 1K and might sell on gunbroker for $1500 buy it now. Notice the twist barrels, popular then , but not so popular 150 + years later.
SDC
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Very interesting; are you able to tell how the second set of nipples is supposed to be struck by the hammers? Do the barrels pull forward, do the hammer noses rotate, or what, exactly?
It is not a "guild gun" as it is marked as made by L. Westphal in Peine, a town in Lower Saxony in Germany.
The design is quite clever in using a movable hammer nose to fire either nipple. The forward nipple channel would lead to the top barrel, the rear one to the bottom barrel. The spring on the side of the hammer would keep the hammer nose in whatever position it was set until the user moved it to fire the other barrel. I immagine one would fire the top two barrels, then cock the hammers and move the noses of both hammers back to fire the lower pair of barrels.
The gun was obviously a high ticket item; the engraving is good and the Damascus barrels are beautiful in appearance (if not necessarily in strength today).
A very nice gun and I will guess a value of at least $2000, perhaps more. As noted, such items are hard to sell because American collectors are rarely interested in them.
Jim
The design is quite clever in using a movable hammer nose to fire either nipple. The forward nipple channel would lead to the top barrel, the rear one to the bottom barrel. The spring on the side of the hammer would keep the hammer nose in whatever position it was set until the user moved it to fire the other barrel. I immagine one would fire the top two barrels, then cock the hammers and move the noses of both hammers back to fire the lower pair of barrels.
The gun was obviously a high ticket item; the engraving is good and the Damascus barrels are beautiful in appearance (if not necessarily in strength today).
A very nice gun and I will guess a value of at least $2000, perhaps more. As noted, such items are hard to sell because American collectors are rarely interested in them.
Jim
Wade79 can check this, but it looks like the "S" sping on the side of the hammer either is part of or provides tension to a plunger that fits in detents in the internal part of the hammer nose to keep the hammer nose from moving until manual pressure is applied.
Jim
Jim
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