French Charleville Model 1763 flintlock musket with the initials "D W" carved on the walnut stock, and a Franch acceptor's mark and "Charleville" is engraved in script on the lock plate. French muskets were second only to British muskets in the quantities used during the Revolutionary War. The first really regulation French musket was the Model 1717, which based on specifications issued on January 4, 1717 for a new infantry musket. These were to be manufactured at one of the Royal Manufacturies at Nozon near Charleville, St. Etienne, and Mauberge under the control of inspectors of the Royal Artillary Corps, which resulted in the first standard French musket. "Charleville" has become a generic term often used to describe 18th century Franch military musket and pistols. The basic types of French muskets used in this country were the models 1717, 1728, 1746, 1754, 1763 and 1777. Toward the end of the war, the colonists began to favor the French Charleville, and the 1763 musket served as the model for the first musket, the 1795 Springfield, made under contract to the new US government after the Revolution. The iron hardware is complete and original; there is a chip out of the top of the frizzen.

Mr. Henry N. Flynt