At Auction, many weapons are brought in for appraisal: knives, bayonets, shotguns, pistols and rifles, automatic weaponry, sub machine guns and heavy machine guns. Each has had a role from turbulent times in our past history and from histories around the world.
One of the earliest forms of weapons we see are Flintlock’s, these were mainly used from the 18th to 19th century before they were superseded by the percussion era and then evolved further into the cartridge which ended the muzzle loading format of weaponry (except for the wonderful enthusiasts who keep this sport alive, through vigorous licensing to safe keep its historical education for the future !).
We have had many pistols and rifles from the English armourers of the time and many named makers of repute: Mantor, Knock, Durs Egg etc. and people are usually intrigued by these weapons when they come to the market - most frequently when people hold a gun they say “isn’t it heavy”, and they like to be shown the routine for the loading and discharge of the weapon and the fact that the sparks from the frizzen are the flint, dislodging steel to ignite a powder chemical reaction instead of the flint coming off. These weapons were an accomplishment of the time when each gun was hand made and not interchangeable for parts.
The Flintlock is the most venerable of the lock technologies and amazing from an innovation standpoint. This single device solved so many of the problems of the time and did so using the fairly primitive tools and technology available at the time. The prices reflect the quality of the metals and processes used. Carving to wood, calibres, makers and innovations on the development of the gun.