Almost A Nice Pair:

 You can't beat holding a nice pair eh ..

ALMOST a pair - the sharp eyed will spot 12mm difference in barrel length and the hammers don't really match.

I found them maybe a year apart, - both smooth-bore .44" Pocket Pistols were battered, rusty, corroded messes and both were offered on trademe New Zealands on-line Auction site. - When received these were really in 'relic' condition.

A lot of my time has gone into RUST removal and restoration. - Well it's more than that .. I have re-finished these old muzzle loading antiques - and they needed it. - Both had crushed nipples seized in place .. that were a pig to extract - and had awful surface corrosion, pitting, filing marks and gouges.  .. And these two pistols have been my first try at using Oil of Wintergreen as a rust remover and penetrating oil.

Expert collecters will be jostling for space to tell the world that I have RUINED these guns value . but they were well ruined before they came to me.

I've tried to stop the corrosion and to diminish the worst damage - while retaining an aged character and "patina" while restoring them to working condition. - I also 'matched' their curves & profiles a little into conformity.

I like to think that these unmarked antiques both came from the Birmingham England outworkers groups of the 1850s and '60s and have enough of a family resemblance to be almost a pair of plain guns .. despite one seller describing the longer barreled pistol as "French". But they might easily be from Belgium (or France). I'm just guessing but I like the feel of both. When I was new to buying collectibles I didn't much like the look of those 'bag shaped' grips - preferring the slab sided stocks .. but when gripped as for firing, in the hand - the rounded bagshapes are very comfortable.

They might be the sort of low cost tool sold with powder & ball in a paper bag, on the Aussie harbourside wharves to 'new chums' headed for the gold diggings.

PAIRS of PISTOLS are also known a 'A brace of pistols'. - If one is good then TWO has to be better eh. The fastest reload has to be grabbing a spare backup gun. Buccaneers & Pirates are often depicted as being well armed for their jobs ..

I think fancy pairs of embellished pistols have long been gifted to the Master as bribes while matched pairs were needed for "fairness" back when Dueling was fashionable.

Are You a Fit and Proper Person?

Are NZ Police 'FIT AND PROPER'?

FIREARMS LICENCES FOR NZ POLICE.

Marty K.

P.S. I just read again this piece by Elmer Keith. It's BRILLIANT so give it a read ..

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/keith-article-on-cap-and-ball-pistols-long.11474/