Martini marked in Farsi

[TJ in Kabul]

Gentlemen,

I'm in Kabul, Afghanistan. Last summer I acquired a Martini with what I believe to be a Metford Barrel (early .303 British) and dated 1882 in English, (the ONLY English language markings on it) whereas the remainder of the weapon is marked exclusively in Farsi including a date of 3013 (convert this Islamic date and you'll also come up with 1882.) So, with the exception of the breach-block which is from a British weapon, all the Farsi numbers match on this carbine.

Additionally, the receiver is marked with an Afghanistan State seal from the period of 1919-1925. Here, Urdu, Pashto and Dari are the primary language, rather than Farsi which is Persian (Iranian) so this weapon had a history long before it came into Afghan service.

This weapon is NOT a Khyber Pass rifle. Of this, we are sure.

After a lot of snooping on the internet for anything on this particular example (and finding nothing :banghead: ) I come to you fellows for answers. Does anyone know of the provenance of weapons such as I have described?

ANY information you might provide would be of great interest to me.

Cheers,
TJ in Kabul

 

[Jim K]

Oh, boy. Provenance means being able to track the ownership of a collectible object (e.g., a painting) from the time it was produced up to today. There is just no way you can do that with guns in the Middle East. There were/are just too many armies passing through, too many armed tribes, too many groups fighting for their own causes or beliefs. I understand that in that area, guns are not just weapons, they are effectively units of currency, like cows once were.

Martini copies were made but British Martinis were also left in the area, captured from the British or brought in by arms dealers at later dates. Sometimes, original markings were removed, either to prevent the owner being accused of theft and treason or simply because the foreign markings were found offensive by some people (like the Nazi swastikas removed from rifles taken over by the Yugoslavs).

FWIW, the only Iranian (Persian) production of western arms did not take place until the 20th Century, though there had been some home made guns before that. If there are Farsi markings other than the date, they might tell you something.

FWIW, I suspect the gun is British, given to Britain's Persian allies in the era of the date, then sold/transferred to Afghanistan at a later date. But those are purely guesses. Have fun trying to figure that one out.

Jim