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need help with gun history and pricing

veritas1st
I am helping a friend sell a Spanish pistol that she "inherited" from an actor. It is inscribed "En Eibar por Jose Mateo Beistegui Ano 1861".
It is a single shot percussion, I am told. A photo is available at the following:
http://www.malibusurplus.com/7.html
I am anxious to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
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Comments

7 comments

Date Votes
  • rufe-snow
    It's not clear which of the two pistols in the photo your referring to? The shorter one is a military type holster pistol, that would have been used by a cavalry officer. The longer one appears to be a target type pistol.

    1861 is quite late in time for the production of high quality muzzle loading loading pistols. The revolver had been in large scale production and use for nearly 10 years at that time.

    According to the on-line add the pistols have been deactivated in some fashion? Thats not going to be plus value wise as far as a U.S. collector is concerned.

    My WAG would be that the best market for the pistol would be back in Spain rather then on the U.S. market. Specially if the individual whose name that has been etched on the barrel can be traced and he is a known historical figure.
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  • veritas1st
    Actually, both guns are functional....I don't know the rules about "online" advertising, so I put that on there to cover myself..
    The Beistegui Brothers apparently made guns for quite a while...you aren't the first to say that 1861 seems a little late for a single shot pistol...
    quote:Originally posted by veritas1st
    I am helping a friend sell a Spanish pistol that she "inherited" from an actor. It is inscribed "En Eibar por Jose Mateo Beistegui Ano 1861".
    It is a single shot percussion, I am told. A photo is available at the following:
    http://www.malibusurplus.com/7.html
    I am anxious to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
    0
  • veritas1st
    How did the photo of that other gun show up with this post?

    quote:Originally posted by veritas1st
    I am helping a friend sell a Spanish pistol that she "inherited" from an actor. It is inscribed "En Eibar por Jose Mateo Beistegui Ano 1861".
    It is a single shot percussion, I am told. A photo is available at the following:
    http://www.malibusurplus.com/7.html
    I am anxious to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
    0
  • He Dog
    The Luger is part of Rufe's signature. I agree with Rufe, the best market is likely Spain, but whether the expences of the export/import would make it worthwhile is a real question. Here it is a muzzleloader of typical Spanish quality, engraved with the name of some Spaniard. I believe it will attract modest interest and bids.
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  • Montanian
    The manufacturer is a major handgun mfr in Spain at least up through the turn of the century (they also made clones of the Smith & Wesson Russian and Merwin Hulbert & Co. .44's for the Spanish military, police, Cuban police, and probably other Spanish possessions of the time (Phillipines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Spanish Guiana, etc.) and seem to be decent quality. Their revolvers come up on GunBroker once in awhile and sell for a substantial discount from their American source models. Late model muzzleloading pistols haven't had much collector appeal but there are almost certainly collectors of this manufacturer's or military pistols in Spain who would pay the most for this. No idea where or how you'd post it there, if you've got a pal fluent in written formal Spanish having them search Spanish websites would be a first step. The Europeans adopted revolvers later than the U.S., the Crimean War is the first one with a lot of revolver usage, and the Franco-Prussian Wars 1866-1870 were the real wakeup call to reoutfit armies with ultra-modern repeaters.
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  • sandwarrior
    veritas1st,

    Welcome to the forum.

    Bastegui is Basque, not Spanish. Great people. Due to their differences with both the French and Spanish who want to posses them they became very independant. Occupying the Pyranees Mountains, they had to manufacture what they could out of what they could get....which wasn't much at times. You can now find them all over Nevada.

    I would personally contact any gunshops in that State and see what you could find. You might get the right collector who could offer you more information.

    FWIW, the late Wes Ugalde (6, 6.5, 7mm TCU), of Fallon NV, was Basque.
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  • nmyers
    Since you asked for advice:

    Your photos are not good enough to evaluate the guns. If that is the best you can do, I recommend that you hire a professional to take pictures. (I have found that most wedding photographers also do "studio" work.)

    While I am a big fan of Gunbroker, I believe that unusual guns sometimes do best in live auctions. Once you have good photos, you might want to ask these folks for an opinion:

    http://www.armsbid.com/ or

    http://rockislandauction.com/

    Neal
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