18 - Flintlock gun, Yemen, walnut stock, Brown Bess lock “TOWER”, crown over “GR”, 18th/19th century

Flintlock gun, Yemen, walnut stock, Brown Bess lock “TOWER”, crown over “GR”, 18th/19th century Iron and walnut, flintlock gun, Yemen, calibre 14 mm. Very long round barrel with raised rings at the breech, dark walnut full stock with many brass-coloured bands over the entire fore-end, shaped brass mounts on the opposite side, sling swivel. British Brown Bess service lock, 18th/19th century, with rounded lock plate, behind the cock “TOWER”, in front of the cock crown over “GR” and broad arrow, cock with flint in leather pad, frizzen and frizzen spring, iron trigger guard. Strongly curved butt with round light-coloured wooden end and light-coloured spacer. Age-appropriate condition, mechanism functional. L. 176 cm The Brown Bess was the standard musket of the British Army from 1722 to 1836; after the Napoleonic Wars its stocks were sold worldwide as surplus. The inscription “TOWER” with the crown over “GR” and the broad arrow is the acceptance marking of the British Ordnance on these locks. In the guns of the Arabian Peninsula and Afghanistan, such British locks were fitted into locally made stocks, as is recorded for the jezails with their strongly curved butt. The many bands over the fore-end and the very long barrel shape the form of these long guns.