Miquelet Lock
Cultureperhaps
Sardinian
Dateabout 1750–1800
Mediumiron
Dimensions9.8 × 13.3 cm (3 7/8 × 5 1/4 in.), 8.5 oz (weight)
ClassificationsArms and Armor
MarkingsBelow mainspring is engraved name "Barbuti"(?). See Armi Antique 1967: 45; Gaibi, Armi da fuoco, figs. 226-7, p. 243; Neue Stockel 1.54.
Credit LineThe John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection
Object number2014.379
DescriptionIron lockplate of flat section bluntly pointed at front & finished with trefoil terminal at rear. Grooved face on the right-angled steel with feather-spring. External mainspring, lower terminal of which is overlapped by base of external reinforcing bridle; top secured with screw that also serves as pivot for cock. Latter is typical for this type of lock, with turned moldings & deep flat jaws, upper half of which rises at center & has molded spur at rear. Jaw screw is long with rather plain open ring at top. Half-cock tumbler, sear & fasteners are lost from within. Lock is decorated with finely incised lines, foliate tendrils on hatched ground. Pulling back on the cock (1) causes the mainspring (2) to compress. At the same time, a pair of sears (3 & 4) move sideways through the lockplate. The first (3) is a half-cock which places the gun in the "safe" mode. Pulled back further, the cock rests on the full-cock sear (4). Pressure on the trigger lever sear (5) withdraws both sears simultaneously, and the cock snaps forward striking the steel/pan cover (6). This blow forces the cover open, and a shower of sparks falls into the priming pan, in turn igniting the main charge in the barrel.
ProvenanceCollection transfer from Higgins Armory, January 2014.
On View
Not on viewCollections
late 1700s-early 1800s
