I'm now obligated..

..to follow yesterday's junk with the crown jewel of my collection.


This piece is (or at least could have been) a pirate's pistol. Demonstrably.

It's an old flintlock that was definitely designed for sea service. How do I know this? Two reasons...

First, the brass barrel and fittings tell me so. You see, brass is much more resistant to the ravages of corrosion that the salty ocean inflicts on iron and steel. If you want a gun to last at sea, you use as little iron as possible.

Second, another pistol almost identical to this one, was excavated from a real 1717 pirate shipwreck. No shit.

To read up on the find, I highly recommend reading Barry Clifford's excellent book "Expedition Whydah". I've excerpted a page here without permission from the publisher (I claim "fair use" for the purposes of academic study, but I will gladly take down the image if anyone takes exception).

The similarities are such that these pieces are not only from the same period, they may have been made by the same maker. If that doesn't send a shiver down your spine, you just don't get it.

Clifford's find is a bit more elaborate, and appears to have had an iron barrel. Otherwise, the pieces are virtually identical - the escutcheons with the heart motif, the trigger guard, and the brass furniture opposite the lock. But notice the face from the buttcap of Clifford's piece next to a photo of the buttcap from mine:

The faces differ to be sure, but look at the eyes, the forehead, and especially the scalloped border around the face. It's as if the benign face of the Sun King on Clifford's find has become totally enraged on mine. These works or art could have easily been made by the same hand. (insert more spine chills here).

If you do not yet feel the power of history, you are totally lost here. I got a tear in my eye just seeing these images together...