What do ya think?

[Dave Suponski]

About 30 years ago the now deceased owner of my company found this flintlock pistol in the woods while out hunting. It was found in upstate New York in the Liberty area off Rt.17 Now I know that area was a hotbed of action during the Revolution but who knows. The barrel has since rusted away and there are no markings at all anywhere. I have taken the lock out and this pistol is very much hand made and by Parker standards very crude internally. Even the screws are hand filled. Can any of you black powder guys venture a guess as to country of origin or a possible time frame for this great relic?

[Dave Suponski]

Pictures

[Pete Lester]

That's neat. The barrel rusted away but the wood didn't rot? I would have thought if exposed to the elements for 200+ years the wood would be the first thing to disappear.

[Dave Suponski]

Pete, The wood around all the furniture is severely shrunk as we see in some very early Parker’s and that doesn’t happen over night

[Rick Losey]

Dave- post it on the American longrifle board and see it anyone recognizes the maker

http://www.americanlongrifles.org/forum/

looks to be the Georgian style to me

[Dave Suponski]

Thanks Rick, Is there a time frame for that style? Another tid-bit the main spring in the lock is caked with black powder residue. So it been shot a bunch

[Rick Losey]

Georgian as in King George - third quarter of the 18th century

i am no expert, but i have seen a few reproductions and some originals in my reenacting days

i would be hesitant to take it apart- but are the butt cap and side plate silver?? if so- they could very well have hallmarks on the underside that would date it within a few years

[Dave Suponski]

Yes Rick all the furniture is German silver,

[Rick Losey]

well, unfortunately - "german" silver is not real silver, so no hallmarks

that was a very nice gun in its day - and i would love to know the story about how it got there- Liberty was pretty much wilderness at the time of the revolution, not a lot of action there. and with the condition of the wood i'd have trouble thinking it sat out in the woods exposed to the seasons for 250 years.

i might believe someone took an old gun out, maybe with the increased interest in the period after the bicentennial and lost it then, maybe some kid paying with a relic from dad's collection

too bad youre in Massachusetts this weekend- the gunmakers fair starts today in Kempton PA - i used to go every year, it would be hard to find a bigger gathering of flintlock experts in one place than that

[Todd Poer]

That is extroadinary. Obviously we don't know circumstances of how that pistol was found. Just guessing but gun had to of been in a very dry spot maybe in a cave with low moisture content with gun leaned up and only barrel touching the ground. Even then it is quite surprising to be in as good as shape as it is. No way it was just laying in the woods for any length of time. We will never know true story but its a cool piece. I would have thought black powder on the metal for any length of time more than a dozen years would have corroded it badly though.

Where I grew up there were caves everywhere. A lot of them have been explored with some found but then forgotten. When I was a kid met a few spelunkers that were also amatuer archealogists. Back in the 70's when scouting an old dry wash from a side draw in a small creek valley they came upon a cave entrance that was blocked with debris but could feel cool air coming out. They came back a few weeks later and cleared the debris. Once they cleared debris the entrance was actually larger than they thought and cave system was much bigger than they thought. They noted several slick type boot marks in the very dry soil and knew they were not the first to explore but then about 150 feet in they found a cache of about 10 civil war era muskets, powder, bullets, crates of rotten food. They took pictures and left everything and then they realized the footprints in the dirt they were stepping on was probably from 1860's. I saw the pictures and they never did tell where the cave was or even remotely hinted at it. The guns in picture looked intact but you could tell the wood on guns and crates had been worm eaten. Metal had a light rust in patches.

Never did find out about the cave or hear about it in the press about someone finding the stuff. Maybe they left it as time capsule or came back and quietly got the stuff, who knows. The only reason I mention it is that its possible that your pistol could have been found in a similar circumstance. That is the only way I could think it could survive in the outdoors like that.

[Todd Poer]

Btw looking at the back of the lock plate did see a fleur-de- lis. It suggests probably French made.

[Dave Suponski]

It’s really to bad there is no more info on how , where the pistol was found. My thoughts are that someone took it out to shoot it and it blew up or something. Going by the condition there is no way it was lying in the forest for 250 years

[Todd Poer]

Curiosity is getting the best of me this morning. Just typed in french flintlock pistols and same across several images. I think during that era there were no real patents and eurpopean guns could look similar from all around. They all had so called industry best pratices and one maker did something that stood out then everybody may adopt it, so hard to tell if something is maybe one style over another. I do think that fleu de lis is telling though suggesting french origins.

Anyway cool story and thanks for sharing. Hope you find out something interesting about it.

BTW we have an old gun in family made by Ogden brothers out of New York. We think it was made in 1840's or 50's. There is almost an exact duplicate of gun that is in museum out west of similar gun given to Jim Bridgier with his name on it that was also made by Ogden Brothers. Its a cool old gun.

[Kevin McCormack]

In the early 1990's I sent a PGCA member to Dixon's (muzzleloader maker) gunshop in Kempton to see if he would make a replacement hammer for a high-grade Parker. They did a beautiful job and the price was very reasonable. I presume they would do it as well today but have no idea what they would charge.

[Rick Losey]

In the early 1990's I sent a PGCA member to Dixon's (muzzleloader maker) gunshop in Kempton to see if he would make a replacement hammer for a high-grade Parker. They did a beautiful job and the price was very reasonable. I presume they would do it as well today but have no idea what they would charge.

Dixon's shop is the one hosting the gunmakers fair this weekend

sensory overload