It is either a really short shotgun without a stock, or a double barreled pistol.
It's a pistol all right.
Double-barreled pistols were popular up until the 19th century along with pepperboxes because of the time that it would take to reload and fire a follow up shot.
The artwork on it looks a little French, though, not sure, but an American piece would likely just be a firearm, not a status symbol, also, the main examples of double-barreled pistols that I could find are mainly British.
What a beautiful piece! American Presidents are gifted with "resentation weapons" and this could be one of those? With the Rhino I could picture this in Teddy Roosevelt's collection?
Give an American gun. Be specific, because we're talking about specific manufacturers of guns.
I thought the OP said American "looking"? This could be a gun that Blackbeard owned?
i just founded that it is a british 20 gauge shotgun... but it looks american to me... i dont know
I agree with Knight, please provide links. This is a beautiful gun but it's pointless to just speculate on it.