Acquisition of two 18th-century pistols

The National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC) has recovered two exceptional Catalan-made pistols from the 18^th century for the heritage collections of Catalonia.

The Museum was informed that these two pistols manufactured in Catalonia were up for auction at one of the most prestigious auction houses for this type of heritage, in Germany. After some negotiation, MNACTEC took part in the auction in order to prevent these pistols from ending up in the hands of foreign private collectors.  

This is a pair of luxury pistols, probably manufactured in Barcelona circa 1740. These muzzleloader pistols are known as “flintlock pistols” as they use the friction of flint against iron to generate the spark for ignition. The locks of the weapons are Madrid locks, and unlike miquelet locks, most of the mechanism was inside.

  2 July 2020