File:Post Medieval toy gun (FindID 618488).jpg

English: A toy pistol of Post-Medieval date, about AD 1650 - 1800. It has several separate components. The butt handle is curved and is cast in lead alloy. It is decorated on each side with three prominent beaded ribs. The chamber is also cast in lead alloy and is octagonal in form, each facet being separated from the others by a low ridge. The upper face is decorated with a row of short, transverse grooves.

The barrel is cylindrical and cast in copper alloy, but has an iron core along all but the last 20mm. This iron core continues through the full length of the gun into the handle. The inner end of the chamber and the outer end of the handle flare outwards and would have formed a circular collar when the two halves were joined together. They are separated by a gap of 5mm where there may have been another, now missing, element, or they may ahve worked apart, sliding along the iron core. The core is visible in the gap and is a circular sectioned rod of 4.2mm diameter.

There are stubs of metal remaining on both sides of the chamber where some parts of the pistol have broken away but the function of these missing parts is unclear. The chamber originally extended further along the barrel; part of this is also now missing, exposing the copper alloy beneath. The pistol has a dark brown patina with some white patches on the lead alloy sections resulting from oxidation of the metal. It is 190.6mm long, 33.4mm wide and 17.1mm thick. It weighs 94.61gm.

The shape of the handle copies that of muzzle loading pistols of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, suggesting a date of AD 1650 - 1800. Examples of similar toys can be found on the database. See for example NLM-A92062, YORYM-CFB105 and SWYOR-D32CA6.