Help id a muzzleloading pistol with few markings

[Dennis Glazener]

I would like to hear any thoughts you might have on the muzzleloading target pistol shown below. It has a swamped Damascus barrel, that is 9.125" 38 caliber barrel with some type of micro groove looking rifling. Barrel has no proof marks or any other markings on the underside or the top of the barrel. It appears to be extremely well made with a hook breech, fine target sights and a great single set trigger. The back action lock is also un-marked. The wood appears to be walnut or possibly ash. The only markings on the barrel is "YELIN" which is neatly carved/stamped on the bottom of the butt-stock.
Dennis













Dennis

[WadePatton]

"YELIN" is how i see it.   

wow, didn't know 14-grooves was an option. 

sorry i'm no helps. 

[E.vonAschwege]

It's certainly "yelin" for some answers....


OK in all seriousness, that's an interesting pistol that brings some thoughts to mind.  At first glance it looks like any other Belgian/French/German mid 19th century dueling or target pistol.  The absence of proof marks would seem to negate that idea though.  The stock also doesn't look as parred away or trim as those European dueling and target pistols usually get.   Looks like a nicely tapered damascus barrel, unusual not to be proofed. 

Something about the stock and that set of parts doesn't fit to my eye - the way the line of the grip comes down out of the tang and where the lock sits in the grip - could it be an American restock?

Lastly, is it at all possible a more recent build? 
-Eric

[Dennis Glazener]

Eric,
I have no idea but many builders/collectors viewed it in detail at the Front Royal show and no one suggested a re-stock, doesn't mean it isn't but it seems more like some really good craftsman made it for target shooting. If it was a re-stock surely the lock/barrel would have some type of id. It does not have the most appealing lines but it seems well designed for target shooting, at least for my hands.

Ed Rayl looked at it and said he wondered if it had a French connection. He said that someone told him (and he could not vouch for it) that France did not require that firearms, exported to other countries, have proof marks. He said he had also seen some French barrels with similiar rifling.

When I did a Google search on "Yelin" surname it looks to be Jewish.

Whomever made it certainly knew what he was doing, its a very well made gun.
Dennis

[Hungry Horse]

Much of  the spanish style blacksmithed gates, and entry ways, in old San Francisco, were smithed by a blacksmith/artist named Yelin, or Yellin.

                Hungry Horse

[Old Bob]

When I did a Google search on "Yelin" surname it looks to be Jewish.

Whomever made it certainly knew what he was doing, its a very well made gun.
Dennis

Dennis, Yelin may be Polish (large Jewish population). The only man with that name that comes to mind is Samuel Yellin (2 L's) who was born in Galicia in 1885 and migrated to the States. He was a well known master blacksmith. I doubt that he was the maker, but you could direct your research to Polish gunmakers.

[WElliott]

Dennis, I got to examine your pistol this weekend and thought it was a good quality gallery pistol.  I did give consideration as to whether one of the Happoldts of Charleston made it, as their architecture was somewhat similar, but decided that it more likely was continental.  In any event, it was a worthwhile purchase on your part. 

[Mark Elliott]

Dennis,

The pistol does have a European look to it,  perhaps made by an immigrant from Europe.    My feeling is that it was made by someone like us for their personal use and they carved their name on the butt.    Perhaps they worked at a firearms manufacturer and made this on their own time.   Remember that almost all the Damascus barrels were made in Belgium,  a long time producer and exporter of arms.  A worker there, maybe an laborer from Poland, could have made this for themselves, hence no markings but the name.   

Mark