Danish??? Brown Bess
Can anyone tell me its country of origin? I see nothing on it that looks like a Belgian proof mark. With considerable imagination the faint barrel marks near the lock might be construed as Danish, but I know very close to nothing about such things. Might the style of lockplate engraving to rear of cock be significant?
This musket was made under one or other of the various contracts the English had with continental gun makers, every time England ran out of weapons.
The gun is more or less pattered after the Marine & Militia model. This pattern hardware has a screw in the tang of the buttplate, and a flat sideplate. The short sear spring upper leaf and general buttstock shape does not look like 7 Years War period to me, I would GUESS more like about 1800 A.D. It has a 36" (864 mm) barrel about .82 caliber (20.8 mm). This one has a tang rear sight. The ramrod is engraved with the letter "G" over the number 19.
I bought it from England. The Englishman told me he found it in Sweden. He said it had been part of a large arms shipment from England to Sweden, which Included 10,000 Brown Bess muskets and 5,000 Heavy Cavalry sabers. This around 1810, give or take, when Napoleon was stirring things up in Europe
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