I'd guess that its a "mock" Spanish barrel, probably from a good quality English gun. The most likely place it may have come from is what were called "the low countries", Belgium and the area that once comprised the Spanish Netherlands. I have a Laborde (French) flint side-by-side gun with what I believe to be Belgian-made "Spanish" barrels. The marks are clear and sharp and easily recognized as belonging to a known maker who died in 1721 although I believe that in its French configuration it probably dates from the 1750s or 1760s. Its also been restocked in England, I would guess about 1780...perhaps as late as 1800 and has an escutcheon with the crest of a minor member of the peerage so its a good quality job. The barrels are clearly marked on their underside "canon tordu", roughly "twisted barrel" in French, hardly a marking you'd expect on a genuine Spanish-made barrel.
The barrel under consideration could also be an entirely English-made example with Spanish-style markings. If it were such it should have British proofs but I'm not certain this always took place. These aren't common but aren't all that rare either albeit not often seen here because they are more in keeping with guns made for the portion of society that had little or no reason to emigrate. A good picture of the markings might be able to tell us either who made it or whose mark was being copied. John Twigg, for instance, sometimes used a Spanish-style, gold foil stamp and decorative stampings like that barrel displays. I had a pair of Twigg duelers with those marks at one time.
This is pure opinion on my part but I think that most of the "Spanish Barrels" used on non-Spanish guns in the middle to late 18th century came from Belgium.
Joe Puleo
