VERY GOOD HARPERS FERRY M1795 PENNSYLVANIA ALLOCATED 1808 MILITIA ACT MUSKET DATED 1814

$3,975.00

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Item Code: 142-104

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This 1814-dated Harpers Ferry M1795 infantry musket rates very good for condition and perhaps near fine. It is complete, full length, all original and in original flint. The touch hole is sharp. It has smooth metal overall showing thin brown over gray on the barrel, a little darker on the bands, and some pleasing mottled, bluish grays on the lock plate. The wood has good finish, warm brown color, good edges and a tight fit to the metal. The mechanics are good. All bands, springs, swivels, sight and rod are in place and correct. The bayonet lug is on top of the barrel, as is correct 1808-1819. The front-sight blade is in place on the rear ring of the top band. The frizzen spring finial is the teardrop shape introduced in 1814. Extensions of the triggerguard have rounded ends, as is correct from 1811 forward.

Markings are sharp in both the metal and the wood. The lock is crisply stamped HARPERS / FERRY / 1814 to the rear of the hammer and has a sharp eagle with spread wings and a shield marked US on its chest that is correct for Harpers Ferry in the period of manufacture. The armory produced a total of 10,400 of these muskets that year according to Moller. The upper left breech of the barrel is correctly marked with the [eagle head]/P and US in raised letters in oval cartouches. As is correct, this does not have a Harpers Ferry serial number, that practice having ceased in 1812. At the lower left breech is a state ownership stamp: CP and the number 503, with the lower part of the P just a bit light. This was the standard state ownership mark of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, known from its own state contract arms, etc. The stamp and number are repeated in the wood on the side flat, which also carries the legible script V over JS of armory superintendent James Stubblefield just behind the rear lock screw. At rear of the side flat and marked vertically is the V over MH stamp of an as yet unidentified Harpers Ferry Armory inspector whose mark is noted by Daum and Pate on other c.1815 Harpers Ferry M1795s and whose working life they give as approximately 1811-1816.

The Pennsylvania ownership and number markings are correct. Arms for state militia forces were privately-owned, state-procured (by contract or purchase,) or acquired by the state from the federal government under the terms of the 1808 Militia Act. Federal arms distributed under that act were usually contractor-made arms with the products of the national armories reserved for federal troops, but inadequate supply of those contract arms before and during the War of 1812 led to the issue of several thousand Springfield and Harpers Ferry made arms to the states under the Militia Act, arms that bore federal proof and inspection stamps, but were sometimes also then marked by the states to whom they had been allocated, as is the case with this musket. (See, Moller, V.2, 144.A7.)

We see a small, gouge to the wood just behind the top band on the left, and another of the same side at the rear edge of the middle band. The barrel channel has good edges. The side flat has very good edges. We see a narrow hairline running from the rear of the side plate along the lower portion of the side flat, onto the wrist, but the line is tight and the wood stable. The left butt flat shows a very old set of owner’s initials, “A B.” and otherwise only minor handling marks. The lockplate apron has very good edges. There is a slight shrinkage gap along the tope rear edge of the lockplate. There is a short hairline running an inch or two back from the bottom edge of the lockplate, also tight and stable. The top of the breechplug tang shows some short notches, perhaps crossing out something scratched into it by a later owner. Some of the screws show slight turning. The buttplate and buttplate tang show shallow pitting typical from standing on damp floor or ground. On the whole, this is a very strong example of a War of 1812 Harpers Ferry musket. [sr][ph:L]

DISCLAIMER: All firearms are sold as collector's items only - we do not accept responsibility as to the shooting safety or reliability of any antique firearm. All firearms are described as accurately as possible, given the restraints of a catalog listing length. We want satisfied customers & often "under" describe the weapons. Any city or state regulations regarding owning antique firearms are the responsibility of the purchaser. All firearms are "mechanically perfect" unless noted, but again, are NOT warranted as safe to fire!

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