Original 19th Century Greek or Balkan Brass Clad Miquelet Lock Rat Tail Pistol - circa 1820

Original Item: Only One Available. These were often referred to as Miquelet "Rat Tail" Pistols because of the shape of the stock. These were the traditional muzzle loading pistol of the Balkans and Greece in the early to mid 1800s. Designed to be worn in a sash around one's waist the weapon is very streamline in appearance. The brass sheath covers a wood stock and is profusely decorated with engravings, embossing and low grade silver in lays. The Miquelet ignition system is a hangover from High Quality Italian pistols of the 17th and early 18th centuries. This is a particularly nice example retains almost all of its brass decorations, only showing slight wire loss on the underside of the grip. The Miquelet lock is also sculpted and engraved, interestingly the fore end does show some of the wood stock under the adornments quite deliberately which is rather unusual for these pistols. This is certainly most unusual and hard to find!These are just the weapons carried by Brigands and Pirate