FRANCE, fin du XVIIIème ou début du XIXème siècle CASSAIGNARD, in Nantes Marine officer's pistol. Signed, flat-body flintlock brass lock with swan-neck hammer and iron breech cover. Bronze barrel with cut or curved sides, ringed, then round towards the muzzle, blunderbussed. Mouth diameter: 32 mm. Iron thundertail. Long walnut barrel. Plain cut brass trim. With iron nailhead ramrod. Barrel length: 12.2 cm - Overall length: 24 cm. Scratches and knocks from use; a few cracks in the wood; slightly deformed ramrod. Several CASSAIGNARD makers seem to have practiced in Nantes, supplying numerous arms to the French Navy and to captains of privateers and merchant ships. Pierre (1708-1786), a forger and harquebusier active in Nantes between 1730 and 1780. Another, whose first name is not given, appears to have been active between 1774 and 1812. Our pistol could be his work.