1740 Potzdam Musket ID

Good Morning All,

Definitely a Potzdam musket. However, with the blank wrist plate I am wondering if this is a commercial variation of the 1740. I would also welcome any other thoughts you may have on the musket overall. Thanks, Randy

I don't think it's necessarily a commercial variant, just one that doesn't have the typical engraved wrist escutcheon. They were issued to many principalities in Germany I believe. I think yours is probably made at Potzdam. If it has three flared front thimbles it dates to the late 1780s as they made that change during that time period.

Nice musket ! All the markings seem to check out. Couple of points here.
The Lock > DSE stand for David Splitgerbers seel. Erben *David Splitgerbers soul inheritance - basically son/sons. This marking puts the lock in the 1775 - 1795 period.
The Stock > The plate ( Daumenblech ) was not used after 1787 but I believe this stock is older and has been reworked at some point and the Daumenblech was probably replaced with a bigger one. Its not uncommon to have muskets with a blank one since they were sometimes reworked when Friedrich Wilhelm II. became king and his Monogram was used from that point on. I would say that the front part of the cheak part of the stock was cut down to a more gentle slope and this was maybe the point when the Daumenblech was changed. Other than that the 1720s and 1740s and later models were all heavily used abused and repaired and updated and restocked even up untill the early 1800s. There was even a program to produce parts muskets after the Jena desaster, soooo....
Can You measure the lenght of the musket and the lenght of the barrel ?

BTW Potsdam/Potzdam Arsenal doesnt exist anymore, but the Zitadelle Spandau, where a lot of muskets were made is still one of the best places to see basically in the middle of urban Berlin.

Fantastic information! Overall length is 57 inches, barrel is 41 1/4, and the stock is 53 3/4. Please see a few more photos. Thanks, Randy

The final set of pictures:

Nice. So far what I see is checking out including the barrel length. One thing I have to say is that I have never seen an original 1740s wooden ramrod. If this thing is real, than that is a serious rarity.

To Randy- is this yours?

Not at this time. Getting close.

Randy

Slowly adding to my RW collection (Long Land Bess and Charleville).

Ramrod images:

ok, ok I have to poke this, why RW collection ? How many Potzdam muskets with a proven history have been preserved in the US from the RW ? How many are in museums ?

As an American, the RW and CW were pivotal moments in US that have great emotional content to all. As a youngster, we visited Fort Ticonderoga (see image at left), where for the first time, I had the sense of this is where it happened and it started my interest in collecting weapons. I also had the same feeling when we visited Gettysburg eight years later.

In the Civic Religion of any nation, there are places that have a sense of awe if not holiness. Gettysburg moved me from the excitement of a child gained at Ticonderoga to wanting to know much more about the men who fought these wars, the reasons for the fighting, and just a new found love of military history. I put this interest into practice and recently retired after 32 years or Community College Teaching. Yes, I created a military history course at my institution. As an educator, owning and shooting pieces of our history has given me a better understanding of those who were there, the technology of the day, and a deeper understanding to those awful and monumental events that I have passed to my students. My Mark I Martini-Henry, 1863 Springfield, 1841 Dreyse, 1918 T-Gewehr, Etc. also resonate other periods of military history, technology and with the soldiers who carried them.

Museums are amazing and wonderful places. I have been to the museum at Spandau several times and all I can say about those visits is fantastisch! However, I have found that students who own pieces of history or are tuned into some oral history, better understand history and the importance of knowing where they and all of us have come from. Some day the T-Gewehr will be behind glass in a museum as nothing else I own rises to the level of being worthy of such presentation. For now, I just restore, preserve, and mostly make smoke.

Randy

My museum:

Some VERY interesting pieces in You gun room thats for sure ! I understand the motivation behind the desire to collect them, Im after all a collector and reenactor too. What I was refering too with my question was why the Potzdam Musket is in Your eyes a good representation of a RW firearm ? How many were shipped to North America ? What are the primary sources for this information ? How many are left in the US with a known provenance and how many are preserved in US museum ? Im honestly curious. I know a lot about the Potzdam musket, but nothing about its service in the RW.

Thanks. Yes, there are very few, true 1740 Potzdam muskets here in the US. The muskets carried by the various German solders is a study unto itself. I believe there were units with Burgoyne, and a few others, who carried the Prussian 1740 muskets in its purest form. It came as a shock to my former students that not all German soldiers in America were Hessians. The Hessians I met in Germany were very impressed I knew about the realities of RW.

My interest in the Potzdam is the link to the RW and more so its link to Frederick the great. He refused to send his troops to America and that probably keep a flood of the Prussian muskets from reaching American soil. We have a family friend who was born in East Prussia and is able to trace his history back to soldiers in Frederick's army-AMAZING! He would love to handle this musket.

Perhaps to your point, Dutch muskets might be more appropriate to fill out what is probably a much bigger space in the weapons of the RW. For now, I just "slightly" want this one.

Randy