Subject: pirate
Culture: colonial English
Setting: Golden Age of Piracy, Caribbean/Atlantic 1714-1722
Object: guns > pistol
* National Museum of Crime and Punishment > A Notorious History of American Crime
"PAIR OF GOLDEN AGE PERIOD FLINTLOCK PISTOLS
These flintlocks would have been the ideal weapon for personal defense and a favorite weapon among pirates for its light weight and size. They would fire a single shot that was loaded into the front end of the barrel.
"Blackbeard was known to carry up to six pistols on his person, while Bartholomew Roberts carried as many as four."These particular pistols date to the late 17th and early 18th century. In the case of the lighter colored weapon the woode stock was replaced sometimes in the mid 20th century due to deterioration, but the mechanism remains period to this Golden Age."* National Museum of Crime and Punishment > A Notorious History of American Crime
"PAIR OF SILVER MOUNTED BOSSET FLINTLOCK PISTOLS
These pistols are marked 'JN. BOSSET' on the lock plates. Jean Bosset worked in Liege in the first half of the Eighteenth Century, until his death in 1741. He was known for his traveler's and military pistols.
"The pistols have a[n] undocumented history of use by a Lieutenant Martin who was aide-de-camp to Marquise de Lafayette during the Revolutionary War. This type of small flintlock would certainly have been available for pirates use as well."
