North America, Mexico / Southwestern USA, Spanish Colonial period, issued ca. 1728 CE. A handsome, well preserved flintlock pistol with a wooden barrel and handle and brass and steel components. A leather guard is at the back of the hammer. This style of flintlock pistol was used by soldiers assigned to the Spanish missions and presidios (forts) that dotted the landscape of what is today northern Mexico and the US Southwest/California coast. Each of these soldiers was issued with a lance, a broadsword, and a short flintlock musket like this one. Fascinatingly, archaeologists have found dozens of honey-colored chert gunflints at the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson (modern day Arizona) which were made in France in the 1700s - probably the same kind as were used for this gun. These flints would wear down over time from being struck and eventually became used as lighters. Size: 18.4" W (46.7 cm)

Provenance: private Glorieta, New Mexico, USA collection

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#149348

Components are all intact and generally have good motion. The barrel has a shallow fissure from weathering down its length. Rich patina on all wood and metal surfaces.