Need Help Identifying This Pistol - Black Powder

[Special Ed]

Hi all.

My father-in-law found this pistol at a shop in Fredericksburg, VA and sent it to me. I found a picture on the web of an identical pistol but it had no other text to identify it. The store owner got it from an estate of a guy who told the shopkeeper that he got it from a woman who got it when she lived in Africa in the mid (maybe early) 1900s. She gave it to the guy to help pay for carpentry work he did for her.

There are no markings anywhere on the pistol. Perhaps there are markings on the underside of the barrel but I'm not going to take it apart to find out (for obvious reasons). The patina looks nice and old, as does the wood. It does not look like a new-ish pistol made to look old. I'm guessing it's a .41 cal. because my .40S&W bullet will fit in the end cleanly but my .45ACP is too big.

I'm really curious to find out who made this and where so I'd appreciate any help you guys can give me. Here are the pictures I took of it today:

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead1sm.jpg

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead2sm.jpg

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead3sm.jpg

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead4sm.jpg

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead5sm.jpg

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead6sm.jpg

http://www.geekrc.net/images/monkeyHead7sm.jpg

[merl]

I'd almost guess it is someones shop project. Is that a nail for a ramrod?

[Special Ed]

merl, you very well could be right. I really have no idea. All I do know for sure is that I've found one that is almost identical to mine on the Ethiopia-U.S. Mapping Mission website. I've posted on their "forum" to see if anyone there can help as well but I was thinking there are more gun people here than there. The only difference (from what I can see from the crappy image on their website) is that the hammer is on the opposite side...although that could be a matter of their image being reversed...or maybe not. On this link -> http://ethi-usmappingmission.com/291330/291292.html the fourth image from the bottom is what they've labeled "Monkey Pistol" and I think you'll agree that there's no denying they're more than similar.

It's ok if it's someone's shop project because I plan on just putting it in a display case as a curiosity. As far as the ramrod goes, I've never seen a nail with as thick of a head as this but it does come to a point. I'm pretty sure that if it's a nail, it would at least be an old nail because it's brittle. So COOL...Ive got an old nail LOL

[merl]

They are similar, huh. You do have a strange one.

[sroz]

I can't think of ever seeing one with the hammer on the left side of the firearm.

[Special Ed]

I can't think of ever seeing one with the hammer on the left side of the firearm.

I found that a little odd myself. But since I'm a southpaw, I kinda like it :)

[Special Ed]

Merl, you were right, it essentially amounts to having been someone's shop project. I got an email from the Webmaster of the U.S. Ethiopia Mapping Mission's website in response to my query. He emailed the guy who owns the pistol pictured in the link I pasted in post #3 here. The guy told him that these pistols were hand-made by a guy in Liberia (who apparently also made rifle versions). They're all similar but not identical since they were hand-carved. The pistol is likely no more than 50 years old or so but that's ok, it's different :)

[sroz]

That's actually pretty cool.

[Special Ed]

Thanks, sroz. I kinda thought so too :) That's not to say I wouldn't have been happier had it been a 200 year old pistol worth thousands but I'm better than ok with what I've got. I got an email through to the guy who owns the other one I know of and let him know I'd be willing to give his pistol a good home if he ever decides to get rid of it :)

[palepainter]

Looks like a cut down black powder rifle.

[rondog]

Take it to Pawn Stars and tell them you want $15,000 for it. They'll "call in their expert" and all that, and we'll get to see you on TV!

[Special Ed]

LOL...yup, you'd get to see me on TV. I'd be the guy everybody's laughing at for thinking he's got something worth a ton of money when I'd be lucky to have it be worth the $50 my father-in-law paid for it :D

[bigun1962]

Look like movie guns to me.