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EARLY 19TH CENTURY “FINE RIFLE” TRADE
GUN – FEATURING CLASSIC WEAR AND REPAIRS - VERY NICE
SPECIMEN: Probably one of, if not the,
most under appreciated firearm of the North American
Frontier, the various patterns of Trade Guns which date
back to the earliest years of western expansion into the
interior of the unexplored continent.
Arguably the most
established and constant commodity of the fur trade, and
traded to Native Americans and European trappers alike,
the Trade Gun in some form was manufactured for over 200
years with only minor changes in the pattern and
specifications.
The gun offered here is of the style of trade gun which
emerged in the 1820’s, referred to in original trading
company correspondence as the “Fine Rifle”.
Incorporating specific features which the traders
believed would appeal to the Indians, who were seeking a
gun which was lighter and more delicate than the
standard Northwest Gun design and one that would
incorporate more decorative features. These long guns
were made with both rifled and smooth bores – the term
“Fine Rifles” indicating the overall style and not the
specific feature of the bore.
This Fine Rifle Trade Gun bears the stamp of the Liege
Proof House, indicating this is what is referred to in
the collecting community as a “Belgian” gun. This
particular stamp was adopted in 1810 and was used
through the 19TH Century.
The London and Birmingham gun makers have always enjoyed
the lion’s share of the historical credit for the design
and production of the classic Northwest Trade Gun which
among other characteristics featured the serpent side
plate. Due to the combined history of the birth of the
United States; the movement of the population west as
the frontier pushed across the Mississippi; and the loss
of the British and French share of the market; the
Hudson Bay Company was replaced south of the 49TH
Parallel by American owned fur companies. While the
American Fur Company, the St. Louis Fur Company, and the
other United States trading companies continued to trade
in British guns, they also began to purchase trade guns
made by American gun makers and to import trade guns and
gun components made in Liege.
The gun makers of Liege, a city-state located in what
would become Belgium, were well established by the end
of the 17TH Century. Their arms were sold to
the Dutch and the French, and during our Revolutionary
War, Liege-made gun parts and entire guns were employed
by both the British and the Americans. Through the late
18TH and early 19Th Centuries, the
area surrounding Liege was claimed in succession by
Spain, Austria, France, and finally the Netherlands,
until 1830 when a revolt resulted in the recognition of
Belgium as an independent nation. To illustrate the
dominance of Liege in the gun market, one source cites
that between 1820 and 1900 the Liege proof house proved
over 40 million firearms, of which more than 1.8 million
were classified as “trade and ship’s muskets”. During
that same period, the British proof house in Birmingham
proved a total of 23 million barrels, without any
notation as to how many of those were made for trade
guns.
These “Fine Rifle” trade guns are examined in detail in
The Encyclopedia of Trade Guns, Volume 1 – Firearms
of the Fur Trade written by James Hanson and
published by the Museum of the Fur Trade, and I am
grateful to the author for providing many of the details
and historical contexts quoted in this description. If
your interest lies in the firearms of the Indian trade
in North America, this volume is a “must have.”
Well used, and no doubt a survivor of frontier life,
this gun shows evidence of having witnessed many years
of history. As will be described in detail below, the
stock was fractured at the wrist and subsequently
repaired, and the tip of the fore end is secured to the
barrel with a couple of wraps of copper wire.
These repairs are consistent with the manner in which
damaged guns were repaired during the 19TH
Century and certainly well within the capability of not
only European gunsmiths along the frontier, but Native
American gunsmiths as well. As history records, during
the King Philip’s War of 1675-1676, the English killed
an Indian blacksmith and destroyed two Indian forges on
the Connecticut River, complete with materials and
tools, indicating the Indians were equipped and had the
skills necessary to repair firearms. As early as 1780,
missionary David Zeisberger reported that the Delaware
people had “acquired considerable skill in making
repairs…. Some have even learned to furnish them with
stocks, neatly and well made.”
Somewhat surprisingly, governments were also advocates
of providing European gunsmiths to the tribes. The
French provided gunsmiths to the Iroquois, no doubt to
further their competition with the British for alliances
with the tribes. The American colonists were not to be
left out, as in 1750 Benjamin Franklin wrote,
“…everyone must approve the proposal of encouraging a
number of…smiths to reside among the Indians. They
would doubtless be of great service. The whole
subsistence of the Indians depends on keeping their guns
in order…..A smith is more likely to influence them than
a Jesuit.”
Native gun smithing skills continued to expand through
the 19TH Century and many surviving examples
of the firearms carried by the Indians exhibit heavy use
and very effective repairs and modifications which were
necessary to keep them functioning and in use. To a
significant portion of the collecting world who actively
seek these trade guns, such repairs are viewed as a
desirable feature which adds considerably to the value.
The ability of native gunsmiths to effect repairs, and
the availability of European gunsmiths to the Indians,
is particularly specific to this Fine Rifle. At some
point, the wrist of the stock was broken, a common
casualty due to the reduced diameter of the stock
profile in this area and all of the inletting necessary
to mount the lock, barrel and trigger assembly.
A well executed repair was
applied, with the stock rejoined so that it was very
solid structurally with no looseness or movement due to
the repair. The joint was further supported with the
application of two sheets of tin measuring 5” long, one
nailed to each side of the wrist with small nails around
the perimeter. The tin sheets were cut in such a way to
conform to the rear lock plate swell and the bow of the
trigger guard, which allowed for the lock and trigger
assembly to be removed should they need repair or
cleaning. The tin has a nicely aged naturally browned
color.
From what I can determine, the barrel lug through which
the muzzle end of the stock was pinned to the barrel was
lost. To secure the stock to the barrel, two wraps of
copper wire surround the barrel and were passed around
the stock pin, affecting a simple yet secure repair. As
noted above, both of these repairs are very solid,
allowing no movement in the stock, and they present as
classic methods of repair which were executed during the
early fur trade period.
This gun was originally manufactured as a flintlock, and
as was the case with so many of these guns, at some
point in the period of its use it was converted to
percussion. The conversion was well executed and the
lock functions properly with a notably strong hammer
cock, and a smooth trigger pull. To replace the flash
hole, a drum and nipple were installed on the right side
of the barrel. Rather than altering the original lock,
it was replaced entirely by a percussion lock bearing
the maker’s name, “DREPPERD; LANCASTER”. This maker’s
stamp on locks of this era are shown with the same
format on page 205, Great Gunmakers for the Early
West, Vol. II, by James Gordon.
The Drepperd Family was established in the North
American gun trade as early as 1760 in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. The name appears on gun locks and
barrels, as well as in the surviving tax records, with a
variety of spellings including Dreppard, Dreppert,
Drepert, and Treppert – yet from all indications, these
variations all refer to the same family of gunsmiths and
lock makers. Gordon states that Drepperd first began
making locks for other Lancaster area gunmakers, a well
known practice within the trade wherein smaller shops
produced the components for the larger shops who
produced the finished guns. John Drepperd of Lancaster
(d. 1869) is reported to have made rifles for the
American Fur Company, so like many of his counterparts
in the gun making business, he participated in the
lucrative guns-for-fur trade with the Indians in the
west. The style and marking on this lock suggests it is
most likely the product of one of the Drepperd’s who
were active in the first two decades of the 19TH
Century.
This gun has an overall length of 56 ½”, with a .64
caliber half round, half octagon barrel measuring the
original 41 ½” in length. As noted above, the barrel
bears a legible Liege Proof House stamp. The barrel
features a single pair of “wedding band” rings where the
barrel transitions from octagon to round. The barrel is
mounted with a low profile rear sight and a matching low
profile barley corn front sight.
The stock retains a rich aged color and natural patina.
and is generally smooth, having a naturally worn feel to
it, with the edges softened through years of handling.
The wrist is checkered, in character with the style of
these “Fine Rifles”. There are the two period repairs
to the stock at the wrist and at the muzzle which are
described above. There are two points where the stock
has experienced wood loss – just above the lock between
the lock plate and the breech which is hidden behind the
hammer when it is at rest on the nipple, and above the
front extension of the lock plate. Neither of these
negatively affects the integrity of the stock and both
appear to have occurred during the period of use. The
edges of the barrel channel on both sides is overall
smooth with only one very minimal, isolated bit of wood
loss. There are some age checks in the grain running
parallel to the barrel channel, but these are stable and
show no signs of opening further – just signs of natural
aging of the wood. There are some naturally occurring
minor dings and marks from the long term use.
All of the furniture is present and intact. The brass
butt plate is full form and solidly attached, and the
tang inlet into the stock comb has a decorative
profile. The trigger guard is full form and both the
front and rear tang finals retain all of their form and
detailed engraving. The two brass side plates are
intact and serve as mounting points for the lock
screws. The three beaded brass ramrod pipes are all
present, and there is a wooden ramrod present. There is
always an element of doubt that these guns retain their
original rod, however in this case the rod shows
evidence of age and use, and probably is a period
replacement. All of the brass furniture has a pleasing
naturally aged patina and all of the original engraving
is fully legible.
While firearm technology certainly advanced, and for so
many practical reasons the flintlock gave way to the
percussion lock, and in turn the metallic cartridge
dominated the market in the years following the Civil
War, in reality no collection of firearms accumulated
with the intent to represent American history can be
considered complete without the inclusion of one – or
several, once the bug bites - of these Trade Guns.
The heavy barreled Plains Rifles such as those made by
the Hawken brothers immediately come to mind when people
think of the Fur Trade era, however a contemporary
observation serves to clarify the reality of the gun
trade during that period. An early 19TH
Century mountain man Thomas James (1782-1847), recorded
that the Blackfeet, upon killing a trapper armed with a
rifle, took the lock for their own use but discarded the
rifle itself, adding that they did not begin using
rifles until a few years before the Civil War.
Despite obvious evidence of long and regular use on the
frontier, this “Fine Rifle” Trade Gun has survived in
very good condition with a wonderful look and feel
attesting to the history it witnessed, and it is a very
presentable example of an early 19TH Century
trade gun that rarely appears on the open market today.
(0725)
$1450
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