Description:
Flintlock musket made of recycled parts with a .725 caliber barrel and a full cherry stock. It is often difficult to assign a single place of origin and date to military muskets from the eighteenth century because efficient recycling means that few weapons survive with their original components. After battles, it was customary to scour the field looking for salvageable parts to repair broken weapons. Consequently, the barrel of this musket is probably American; the lock is English, made by Ketland, gunsmiths who operated in Birmingham from 1740 to 1804 under the founder William Ketland and later his grandson, William II, and William II's brother-in-law until 1831; the trigger guard, trigger, and butt plate are French or possibly Dutch between 1700-1725; and the brass barrel bands copy the French practice of using brass bands on the 1728-1754 models. The musket probably assumed its present appearance around 1750, and now an interesting illustration of recycled parts for home use.
Subjects:
Brass Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+91.052 |
