American matchlock

[bioprof]

I was under the impression that most all matchlocks were made in the Old World. However, I found a picture of a matchlock that was supposedly made in Massachusetts. Could this have been a gun made in Europe and restocked in the colonies or could it have been made entirely in America?

Link

 

[tom hargrove]

sure has a dutch look to it.

 

[JV Puleo]

I am pretty sceptical about the "made in Massachusetts" claim. England itself had very little gunmaking as we understand it in the 1st half of the 17th century. The evidence suggests that the majority of the muskets used in the English Civil War were Dutch or imported from the low countries (i.e. modern-day Belgium) and/or Germany. Could the gun have been stocked in America? Certainly. I would be very surprised if this wasn't done as they did break and there certainly wasn't any shortage of wood. But...the long-abused "American Wood" argument has to be taken with a grain of salt. One of the first and most valuable exports of the early colonies was wood...its very likely that large numbers of purely European, especially English, arms sported "American Wood". I saw a supposedly "American Wood" wheelock carbine many years ago. It could have been stocked here but it is just as likely it was stocked in England with native American wood.
Britain was importing wood almost as soon as the first Englishman set foot in America...I believe the first ship built in America pre-dates 1700 and was built here precisely because it was easier to send shipwrights to the colonies than it was to ship the wood to England. That would be ship-timbers. Hardwoods suitable for gunstocks would be far more efficient to ship if only because it could be rough sawn in the colonies and shipped as planks - very efficient to load a ship with. And, you got a lot of valuable stocks from a single plank.
For years a famous Lorenzoni repeater was attributed to Cookson, a Boston gunmaker. That such a person existed and was known as a gunmaker is well established. There isn't a shred of proof that he could make a repeating flintlock. The well known Cookson gun on the cover of Lindsay's "New England Gun" is clearly a restock at least 40 or 50 years after the gunmaker died. I have handled what is probably the best preserved real Cookson gun and it is very crude...and it must have been made closer to 1700 than to 1630.

Joe Puleo

 

[robinghewitt]

Sure looks like American wood and in amazingly good condition for 17th century. If restocked, anything burnt in to the wood is probably of little significance. Looks like a fowler with a musq't lock

19th century England saw a great interest in dressing up and re-enacting the Civil War, they made a lot of armour and refurbed a lot of guns. It's not always easy to tell original from repro 150 years later.

That rather begs the question, is it stripy American maple or stripy English walnut?

 

[DickS]

I would doubt that barrels were being made in the New World during that period, but salvaged parts would certainly have been recycled into usable firearms.
Much later than the 17th century, but years ago I saw a number of ML guns from Quebec. These were all restocked, some in pine, all converted to percussion, but the metal parts were from French colonial period arms. One barrel was obviously from a 1717 musket. Some of the stocks were in the style of the original, so I would assume that the broken original stock was available as a pattern, or the restocking was done more or less contemporary with the original period of use of the firearm. Other stocks were more 19th century in style.
A mid-17th century inventory from a house in St. Mary's City, MD listed a few guns, including one that was broken. If it was listed in the inventory, it was obviously considered worth retaining and repairing.
There were a lot of curios made up in 19th century England. The gunmakers who did this work were skilled, and as mentionned, 150 years of subsequent aging could make identification difficult.

 

[Wes/Tex]

I have to agree with Dick. I don't know of any major foundries in the colonial 17th century period. Granted, gun makers could make parts but I don't know if barrel making was a common occurance then.

 

[BillinOregon]

Whatever its provenance, that is a very lovely matchlock.