This pistol uses the characteristically Spanish miquelet lock employing an exterior mainspring acting against the heel of the hammer and a horizontal sear extending through the lock plate to hold and release the hammer. An early version of flintlock, combining the striking surface of the frizzen with the cover of the priming pan, the miquelet lock looks somewhat clumsy from the exterior mounting of the mainspring, but was a very robust construction, requiring far less wood to be removed for inletting of the mechanism, thus strengthening the stock, typically employing a large, heavy mainspring for the hammer and serrated face on the frizzen that would better ensure sparks and ignition, using a large ring on the jaw screw that enabled the shooter to tighten the jaws without tools and gave a better hold for pulling back the hammer against a powerful spring, and long jaws that could hold flints of varying length that may have lacked careful shaping and change their position as necessary. It was so practical a design that it persisted to the percussion era. Spanish military longarms did away with it briefly and then reinstituted it.

This pistol has a brass stepped butt cap with lion or gargoyle face on the bottom with border and long spurs up the sides of the handle engraved with scrolling floral motifs. These are carried forward in a symmetrical pattern on a long engraved and cutout applied brass plaque extending up the back of the handle from the midpoint and around the breechplug tang, secured by small brass tacks. These are picked up by a plate at the rear entry of the ramrod on the underside of the forestock, and on the triggerguard between, which has a rather classical outline and shows a bit of Rococo style in the asymmetrical raffle engraved on the underside of the triggerguard bow. On the counterpane another brass plate with more cursory, though deep, floral engraving surrounds a narrow iron side plate connecting the two lock screws. The forestock has two narrow border lines running out from lock area to the muzzle. The wood has a warm brown tone overall and is in good condition though there is a slight gap between wood and metal at the muzzle. The forward thimble for the rammer is in place. The rammer with it is rather simple and likely an old replacement. The .69 cal. barrel measures 9 1/8” in length.  Mechanics work well, though the bore is dirty.

The barrel and lock are dull silver in color with gray areas. Spanish barrels were well respected from the quality of the steel and often heat blued, with the locks left bright. The barrel moves from octagonal to round and the top flat at the breech has a deeply impressed maker’s mark that we have not identified. The maker’s name, or abbreviated name, is in two lines below a crown. The upper line is clearly “TOR,” but we find no satisfactory match in the list of Spanish gunmakers in Neal. Neal #173 “TORNTO,” a Ripoli maker of about 1780 would seem the closest, but the lower three letters do not seem a match. Nevertheless, 1780 is probably a good approximate date for the gun. [sr] [ph:m]

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