Very Early Ketland Brass Cannon Barrel Pistol. Dating to the age of pirates and sailing ships, this is a rare opportunity to own a very historic pistol. Overall this pistol is in good condition. This pistol does function, both half-cock and full-cock hold as they should. Part of the top cover is broken where you can see the internals of the pistol (See Pictures). However, this does not affect the functionality of the pistol. The bore is smooth and dark, as one would expect from a pistol of this age. This pistol's barrel is made of brass, and features a mellow honey petina, and numerous handling marks in the brass. The trigger, trigger guard, and hammer all have moderate rust and petina on them, also as one would expect, and are made of steel. There are very minor handling marks on the grips, and the grips fit tightly as they should, and are made of Fiddleback walnut. The overall size of the pistol is 6 1/2 inches from the muzzle to the end of the stock, this size of pistol is often referred to as a Mantel or Greatcoat pistol. This pistol has a brass cannon barrel, which refers to the shape of the end of the barrel, being in the style of full-size cannons from that time period. Only the earliest of pistols featured this type of design and metal. The left side of the barrel is marked with an Liege proof mark, suggesting that the pistol was originally made in Belgium. Behind that, it is marked "Ketland", which is the original retailer of the gun. The right side of the barrel is marked "London", denoting the location of the Ketland retailer. This is a very early example of a pistol, which was made around the 1740's. This pistol was originally a flintlock, and was updated to percussion sometime around 1830. In 12 years of dealing firearms and almost 20 years collecting firearms, this is the second brass barrel pistol, and the ONLY brass cannon barrel pistol I have encountered. This is an original antique pistol, and does not need to be shipped to an FFL. This would be great to add to your antique firearm collection.