[Dirtcowboy]

Hello! I need you Spanish collectors help with something. I was just visiting my Aunt and she said she had an old shotgun she wanted me to try and identify. Well I know this is a Spanish pistol board but the shotgun is very old and has Euscalduna en Placencia engraved in gold inlay on it. When I google that it only brings up pistols. Pics are not available as I did not have a camera with me. The shotgun has a nice patina and is very fancy with engravings. It is singe shot with what looks like a .20guage bore. It opens via a large lever on the underside of the barrel where a forstock would be on a normal shotgun. There is a sling attachment point directly on the barrel halfway up. Barrel is 34 inches long. Serial # is 36. Any ideas? Thanks and sorry if this is the wrong board.

 

[2520wcf]

That type of action is usually on the Lefaucheaux system (may be not spelt right; my French is weak); the "lever where the forend would be" is characteristic of that early locking system. After the first decade or so of use, arms with this system were usually of lower quality. But not always. This system seems to have hung on in Scandinavia for a longer time than anywhere else.

If you can remove the barrel from the receiver, there should be proofmarks on the top of the receiver where it mates with the bottom of the barrel, and also on the flats of the bottom of the barrel where it mates with the receiver. If you could describe those in detail, or post a clear picture of them, we probably can tell you a lot more about this gun.

"Euscalunda" sounds like a Basque name or a company name in Euskadi, the Basque language. That makes sense because the Basque region was the main gunmaking center of the nation.

You need to measure the bore or try 16 and 20 guage shotgun shells in the chamber. If neither fits, it may be an 18 (rare) or 24 guage gun. The 18 was uncommon, but the 24 was fairly common in the early 20th century in Europe. If the 16 fits "sloppy" it may be a 14 guage, not common, but not unknown, either (the King of Spain had a pair. He liked them because his 12 and 16 guage shooting buddies couldn't borrow shells off him....royal but cheap!).

If there was such a firm that made pistols, it is likely that they may have made shotguns as a sideline, and this might be one. Long barrel suggests waterfowling gun.

 

[Clyde]

Plasencia is a walled market city in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, Western Spain. As of 2010[update], it had a population of 41,447.

Situated on the bank of the Jerte River, Plasencia has a historic quarter that is a consequence of the city's strategic location along the Silver Route, or Ruta de la Plata. Since the 15th century, the noblemen of the region began to move to Plasencia, defining its current appearance

Note the different spelling, and the location is not in the Basque region

There is an Eskalduna (Basque/Euskadi spelling) Conference Center and a Palace of that name in Bilbao (main city in the Basque region).

I note the guns i could find using a search with Escalduna en Placencia as the term indicate markings of Fabrica Escalduna en Placencia. Which would be Made (in) Escalduna in Placencia, or Factory (in or of) Escalduna en Placencia. So - apparently an arms maker in the 19th century judging from the guns that appear on various sites existed, probably in the basque region, and likely made this gun. A gold inlaid name suggests a fairly high quality arm.

Escala