Original Cossack Ball Butt Migulet Pistol – Fully Inlaid circa 1780 New Made Items

Original Item: One Only. This Is a great example of a late 18th century Cossack ball butt pistol. It is just over 13″ overall in length with a European proofed 9″ barrel from much earlier.  You can clearly see the original tang hole, now plugged, as well as its original European engraving and cannon type muzzle.

The ENTIRE wood stock totally covered in the most gorgeous brass and mother of pearl inlays almost defying description. Steel button trigger, a tradition with the Cossacks and a similarly inlaid ball butt just 2″ across with an old bone circular inlay to the bottom showing it’s age. The Migulet lock is tight and compact and fully operational and bears a very clear Armorer’s Mark, maybe in gold on the front face.

On the underside to the left of the button trigger there has been some loss to the inlay which we think would be impossible to replace; a pity but in the scheme of things, to be expected and not a great drawback. The edges at the loss areas all stabalised.

Truly Magnificent and ready to display

History of the Miquelet Lock:
Miquelet lock is a modern term used by collectors and curators, largely in the English-speaking world, for a type of firing mechanism used in muskets and pistols. It is a distinctive form of snaplock, originally as a flint-against-steel ignition form, once prevalent in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Balkans, North Africa, Ottoman Empire and throughout Spain’s colonies from the late 16th to the mid 19th centuries.

The term miquelet lock was not recorded until the 19th century, long after the appearance of the mechanism in the 16th century, and is of uncertain origin. One commonly held view is that it was coined by British troops in the Peninsular War to describe the style of musket used by the Miquelet (militia) that had been assigned to the Peninsular Army of the Duke of Wellington.

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