Maria Theresa pistols

[Lucky R A]

      I thought you might like to see a beautiful set of pistols that I recently had the privilege of working on.   I realize these are not American pistols, but there is much to learn from them that is applicable to American pistols.   When the pistols arrived, they had been badly mistreated.  Someone along the line attempted to repair them with a hot glue gun of all things.  The one had the grip completely broken in half, and the other had the forestock shattered.  Several pieces of the forstock molding was missing completely.  The beautifuly chiseled and inlayed barrels were covered with rust to the point that the breech inlay was barely visible.  Since the pistols were so expertly converted to percussion, the decision to leave them percussion was an easy choice.  The butt cap of each pistol has a bust of Maria Theresa, the last of the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburgs.  I am guessing these pistols date to around 1750, but I am hoping some of you who are more knowledgeable can fill in some of the blanks for me...  Ron

[Shovelbuck]

Beautiful pistols. do you have "before" photos?

[bgf]

The conversion is a work of art in itself -- is it a drum or part of the lock in place of the pan?

[smart dog]

Hi Ron,
They are beauties.  Peter Grecke was a well known gunsmith from Rostock, Germany during the mid 1700's.  He eventually emigrated to Russia and worked at Tula.  Are you sure the bust is of Maria Theresa?  It certainly could be if the pistols were made before 1755 or so when Rostock was connected to the Austrian Holy Roman empire.  However, if they were made after 1755, I doubt the image is of Maria Theresa because Rostock was occupied by the Prussians under Frederick the Great and at war with Austria. The bust actually looks a little like his unhappy princess, Elizabeth Christina. 

Thanks for sharing,
Dave

[bgf]

Hi Ron,
They are beauties.  Peter Grecke was a well known gunsmith from Rostock, Germany during the mid 1700's.  He eventually emigrated to Russia and worked at Tula.  Are you sure the bust is of Maria Theresa?  It certainly could be if the pistols were made before 1755 or so when Rostock was connected to the Austrian Holy Roman empire.  However, if they were made after 1755, I doubt the image is of Maria Theresa because Rostock was occupied by the Prussians under Frederick the Great and at war with Austria. The bust actually looks a little like his unhappy princess, Elizabeth Christina. 

Thanks for sharing,
Dave

From the looks of her, they might both have been unhappy .

[Daniel Russell]

Ron asked me to post some "before" pictures for him:

[smart dog]

Hi Dan,
Thank you for posting those pictures.  They show what a talented and skilled craftsman Ron is.  He did a terrific restoration.!

dave

[lexington1]

Quit posting this stuff.............I want Ron to work exclusively on my junk

As always, that is a great job Ron!

[Dphariss]

Nice job.
Good illustration of a nice restoration.

Dan

[Curtis]

Very admirable job, Lucky.  Both you and the owner should be proud of the finished product!

Curtis