Btw looking at the back of the lock plate did see a fleur-de- lis. It suggests probably French made.

It’s really to bad there is no more info on how , where the pistol was found. My thoughts are that someone took it out to shoot it and it blew up or something. Going by the condition there is no way it was lying in the forest for 250 years

Curiosity is getting the best of me this morning. Just typed in french flintlock pistols and same across several images. I think during that era there were no real patents and eurpopean guns could look similar from all around. They all had so called industry best pratices and one maker did something that stood out then everybody may adopt it, so hard to tell if something is maybe one style over another. I do think that fleu de lis is telling though suggesting french origins.

Anyway cool story and thanks for sharing. Hope you find out something interesting about it.

BTW we have an old gun in family made by Ogden brothers out of New York. We think it was made in 1840's or 50's. There is almost an exact duplicate of gun that is in museum out west of similar gun given to Jim Bridgier with his name on it that was also made by Ogden Brothers. Its a cool old gun.

In the early 1990's I sent a PGCA member to Dixon's (muzzleloader maker) gunshop in Kempton to see if he would make a replacement hammer for a high-grade Parker. They did a beautiful job and the price was very reasonable. I presume they would do it as well today but have no idea what they would charge.

Dixon's shop is the one hosting the gunmakers fair this weekend

sensory overload