Hawkins flintlock pistols for Georges Washington

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flibuste

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hello,

Thirty years ago, Belgian (Centaure) and Italian (Uberti) manufacturers issued a commemorative set of these pistols ; they were sold by various company in the USA.

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http://www.rockislandauction.com/viewitem/aid/47/lid/3795

http://rockislandauction.com/view_item/aid/1013/lid/1289


Would anyone have info about these ?

Thanks
 
US historical society was selling these in the USA.

I happened to meet a Belgian person who was in contact 35 years ago with the belgian Centaure manufacturer ; he explained me that some exemples were left in white a the end of the contract and he had the last one for sale ;

It had been assembled very "roughly", maybe by an apprentist but all parts were present, notably 300grammes of pure silver parts :


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There is a lot of work to do but it should be worth !!

Regards
 
It's gorgeous and should come together nicely.

With some very precise polishing you could get rid of that seam on the butt.
 
An other SCAM by Rock Island Auction! These are modern reproductions of a pistol that NEVER existed! The well known gunsmiths, the Hawkins brothers of St. Louis didn't appear till about 20 years AFTER George Washington died! These have nothing to do with George Washington or Hawkins!

I don't look at everything that Rock Island Auction has on their site, but so far, EVERYTHING that I have looked at has been a fake!
 
Actually the name of the gunsmith is Hawkins from London not from USA ; it seems that the original pistol was "imported" from England...............
 
The well known gunsmith brothers in Saint Louis were actually named Hawken, not Hawkens or Hawkins.

On the other hand, Hawkins was a well known firm in England who made locks and complete guns in G. Washington's era, and there does exist plenty of documentation to prove that.

Maybe a little research is in order before you get so upset like that, eh?
 
Joe in fla said:
An other SCAM by Rock Island Auction! These are modern reproductions of a pistol that NEVER existed! The well known gunsmiths, the Hawkins brothers of St. Louis didn't appear till about 20 years AFTER George Washington died! These have nothing to do with George Washington or Hawkins!

I don't look at everything that Rock Island Auction has on their site, but so far, EVERYTHING that I have looked at has been a fake!
Click to expand...
Open mouth, insert foot! The name isn't even spelled the same. HAWKEN were the American gunsmiths. HAWKINS was British gunsmith. Now don't you feel foolish? Google can be your friend.
 
Jacob and Samuel Hawken were part of a line of American Gunsmiths dating to the mid 18th Century. Their father, grandfather, great - grandfather and uncles and cousins had been well known Gunsmiths in Pennsylvania for the better part of a century (the family arrived in America in 1750) before they migrated West to St. Louis and became renowned for their plains rifles.

The Hawken surname has an evolution in spelling from Hachen / Hacken / Haga / Hacka to Hawken.

Well known Colonial Gunsmiths from the family line would be the likes of Christian Hacken (Hachen), Wolfgang Haga (Hacka), Nicholas Hacken (Hachen).
 
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It would seem the spelling of the word for 'family name' has also undergone some spelling evolution: surname, sir name....
 
I recall a pair of George Washington's horse pistols that looked very much like this in the museum in the chapel of Washington & Lee University, in Lexington, VA. They came from Lee's wife, who was a descendant of George Washington.
 
You will find hereafter some infos about the "CENTAURE" company which is among other reknowed for the Colt 1860 replica named "centennial" .


The Hanquet family was at the head of the F.A.U.L "Fabrique d'Armes Unies de Liege" and Centaure was part of it. The FAUL went bankrupt in 1976 and all tools and machines and parts were sold at that time ; my Hawkins / Washington pistol is probably assembled with parts in stock at that time..............

There is a photo of the main entrance in Liege, 22 rue Trappe à Liege , with CEO and his daughter..

The end of Belgian gun industry, Italian would then replace them in the replica market.

http://www.littlegun.be/arme belge/artisans identifies h/a hanquet famille gb.htm

http://www.1960nma.org/Production/BELGIAN COLT-Production04.09.08-1.htm
 
And finally at the range :

Shooting at 25meters, 2handhold with slight rest ;

15 shots : 50grs BP, cornmeal and patched 530 ball.

100% reached the target :



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Not so bad for a smoothbore flintlock pistol w/o sights !!!!!!!!!


This kind of pistol was supposed to stay in a presentation case but obviously it is not ridiculous at the range...............

Regards
 
My guess would be he is shooting with a liberal amount of lube and doesn't want to contaminate the powder, some people use it as an accuracy enhancer for whatever it is worth.
 
Also, the filler compresses to act as a gas check to help seal the bore, it protects the patch and cushions the projectile much like a modern shotgun wad.
 
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