A Wonderful Ottoman Empire Flintlock "DAG" Blunderbuss Pistol with heavy silver overlay

An antique Ottoman Empire flintlock “Dag” blunderbuss pistol coveted by the Barbary Coast pirates, circa. 1780.  11 5/8” iron blunderbuss barrel with flaring muzzle and encrusted with heavy decorative silver overlay (minor loses).  The flat faced beveled-edge lock has decorative engraving with an unidentified maker signature in front of the cock.  The steel furniture has decorative engraving which includes a butt plate that has the same heavy silver overlay as the barrel.  False wood ram rod.  The stock has an old repair (replaced wood) just under the muzzle and in front of the entry ram rod pipe, some age stress cracks on the left side above the side plate, otherwise beautiful with areas of decorative high-relief carving as well as areas of fine silver wire inlay.  The overall stock is solid with light scratches and dings from years of handling.  The blunderbuss pistol is in its original flintlock configuration and in good mechanical working order.  21.25” overall length.  A high quality example in wonderful dark untouched condition !

TTI-576522

NOTE - The silver overlay has been professionally cleaned to bring out the silver but not to remove the dark age patina from the iron surfaces.

THE FALSE RAM ROD - The majority of the short firearms (pistols and DAG blunderbuss) from this geographic region were intentionally made without the standard full length "working" ram rod.  It is thought that because the user(s) were on Camels, Horses, and even Elephants that dropping the ram rod from high up positions renders the weapon(s) useless because they could not re-load.  The ram rods were carried separately on lanyards.