Blunderbuss ID?

[rabjr]

A friend of mine stopped by today and told me about a blunderbuss he saw last night. The owner was in London in 1966 and bought three of these guns at the time, over the years two have been stolen and only one remains. He said it has a brass barrel, flared at the end. On top of the barrel is written "Cork" in large letters and "Whitney" in small letters on the lock. Sorry no pic's atm. Anyone recognize anything here? Is this a real working gun or a display model?

 

[rabjr]

I finally got to see this gun and take pictures. The barrel length is 16 1/8" and over all length is just a hair under 32".

 

[gof]

If you are taking guesses... I would say, Its the real deal.

Blunderbuss/Musketoon late 18th or Eearly 19th century.

But that is just my guess... is there a prize?

GoF

 

[RC]

hey! swampy got a new turkey gun! nice pics swampy...be interestin to find out if it's original or not...but buyin 3 at a time...???

 

[rabjr]

Theres no doubt this is an original gun. I'd like to know about when it was made and ball park worth today.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Looks like some sort of Sea Service blunderbuss made from a bunch of both military and civilian parts. The finial of the triggerguard is missing and looks like it was built that way. God knows where the big-eyed top jaw screw came from, looks like the kind favored by the Spanish?!? Looks like commercial English proofs, far as I can tell. Interesting piece. Not sure if Cork is some maker, though it might be an Irish product. What the hey! :haha:

 

[Henry]

My guess: Spanish made from a mix of original parts ( english butt plate , spanish barrel ... ) assembled after 1940 on a 1940 made stock.

How are the bore and flash hole ?

Is it a crown over the " V " stamp ?

 

[Mike Brooks]

Interesting. :hmm: The cock is a replacemnet. The pan may be as well, not sure about that, looks a bit clunky for british isle work. The fact that the trigger guard was inlet with out a finial is odd. Is that some sort of a stock splice at the rear ram rod pipe?
The barrel has london proofs. The gun could be as early as about 1775 if you go by the style of the side plate. But, the buttplate engraving looks real 1790's to me. We know it was probably made before 1813 because of the barrel proofs. I don't think it is a modern restock as the inletting is too good.
"CORK" is either a location or a maker's Name. "Whitney" Is a maker's name also. You do occasionally see two names on a British gun, why I don't know.

 

[KHickam]

Not sure if this helps - Cork is a city/county in Ireland.

 

[Mike Brooks]

Not sure if this helps - Cork is a city/county in Ireland.

Right. The barrel at least ,most likely, was made in Ireland. The gun could have been stocked elsewhere in England, hard to tell.
Whatley sounds more english to me than Irish, which makes me think it may have been stocked somewhere other than Ireland. Or, the barrel could be from an older gun and restocked in the 1780's or 90's . Or, the lock could be a replacement too, hard to tell with out taking it apart.

 

[rabjr]

Gun detectives, I love it!

Your hunch about the forearm was correct Mike. :bow:

Everything became clearer once I took the lock off. You can see where someone spliced a new forearm onto the stock, a trained eye would have seen this right off, I just saw what I thought was cracks in the wood.

Heres a shot of the lock internals,

The inside of the lock inlet,

The splice,

 

[rabjr]

More,

 

[rabjr]

I'm guessing the only thing of value here would be the barrel, the lock? Butt plate and sideplate?

 

[Mike Brooks]

It's very valuable as it is! With a proper restoration it would be even more valuable.The cobbled up forestock could be redone by a pro so the repair wouldn't be noticeable. That's where the Triggerguard final was lost, during the addition of that cobby piece of wood.
Rather than a restock, I'd reccomend a restoration. It's value would go up quit a bit at that time.

 

[Henry]

Pictures of a weird spanish wall hanger here ,


[url] http://poudrenoire.forumactif...-f1/identification-d-un-vieux-fusil-t9621.htm[/url]

Does the flash hole connect the barrel ?

 

[rabjr]

Thanks Mike, unless we can talk her out of it, I doubt anything will be done to it.

 

[rabjr]

Btw the repair/splice appears to be stained pine! :shocked2:

 

[benvenuto]

The top jaw screw came from the hardware store, its off a U-shackle and it isn't spanish! the whole cock is a relatively recent replacement - definitely not original.

Its an odd mixture of parts, I'd take a guess and say the "Cork" on the barrel is connected with some kind of coaching service? Looks like a post napoleonic war "bitsa" assembled on the cheap for commercial use on coaches or guarding a roadhouse owned by the coaching company. :hmm:

 

[Wes/Tex]

The top jaw screw came from the hardware store, its off a U-shackle and it isn't spanish! the whole cock is a relatively recent replacement - definitely not original.

Its an odd mixture of parts, I'd take a guess and say the "Cork" on the barrel is connected with some kind of coaching service? Looks like a post napoleonic war "bitsa" assembled on the cheap for commercial use on coaches or guarding a roadhouse owned by the coaching company. :hmm:

Thanks, have never seen a U-shackle bolt quite like that. The cock itself bears a resemblence to some of the later smoothbore U.S. muskets. Obviously put together as you say and a coach gun is a great I.D. idea. Blunderbeasts are lots of fun! :haha:

 

[rabjr]

Learned today the owner of this beast is looking to sell.