Rolfkt - To expand some more on what the others have said, I am assuming we are using the term "Kentucky" here for early American muzzleloading pistols in general, with those made in Tennessee included in that group. You are asking if there are any features commonly found on pistols from Tennessee (and in this case probably east Tennessee) that help distinguish them from those made elsewhere, correct?
There are so few documented surviving pistols made in east Tennessee, much so fewer than rifles, that it is hard to generalize. There is usually a lot less there in the way of hardware and decoration to go on. For example, patchboxes on Tennessee rifles are often one of the features that are very distinctive, but not there on pistols.
In the case of pistols, I think what we do have are more maker-specific features than broad regional characteristics. When you look at the Bull pistols, at first glance they can appear very much like pistols being made in other states in the early 1800s, with lots of English influence. There are subtle features so that if you are familiar with the Bulls' work, and know they worked in Tennessee, then these features jump out at you as being by the Bulls and thus we then tend to assign them as being Tennessee features. But we have the benefit in their case of knowing where and when they worked and the features are so subtle that if the pieces were not signed it would be difficult to tell, if you were not familiar with their work- i.e. the short tab on the entry thimble, the sideplates. etc. And the sideplates are a shape that although common to much of the Bulls' work, is very similar to English pistols of the period, as well as American pieces made in places like Baltimore, or really anywhere in the late flint period. Jerry Noble's books indicate that John Bull may have apprenticed in Baltimore before rejoining his family after they moved to East Tennessee in the 1790s so perhaps therein lies part of the answer.
On the other hand, the Baxter Bean pistols look like to me what you would expect someone who makes Tennessee rifles would make if they were to make a pistol. Very stylized with long, lean architecture. The guard has a long bow and East Tennessee style double set triggers, which are atypical for American pistols. The rear sideplate has the elongated bar on it's bottom, similar to Bean rifles but unlike the shorter bar that was a fairly ubiquitous pistol sideplate pattern of the early 1800s. And, perhaps the other most distinctive feature is the tang running all the way down the back of the grip to the butt of the pistol, again not something you would typically expect on pistols made from areas farther north and east like the major gunmaking centers of Virginia or Pennsylvania but something you would expect from a Bean. But there are always exceptions. And again, while these are common regional features of east Tennessee gunmaking in general, it is hard to say that when speaking specifically of pistols, whether or not they were common.
One thing that does seem somewhat common to the few Tennessee pistols I have seen is the use of silver mounts that appear to have been fabricated from multiple pieces of sheet silver, rather than cast brass or silver hardware.
Guy
