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1867 FRANKFORD ARSENAL 40 ROUND 50/70 AMMUNITION
PACKET WRAPPER – A VERY SCARCE EARLY INDIAN WAR
AMMUNITION DISPLAY ITEM – AN EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO
ENHANCE AN EARLY FRONTIER COLLECTION: To be
perfectly clear, this offering is for the original
pasteboard external box and wrapper only for a
.50/70 Cartridge 40 round Frankford Arsenal Packet as
shown in the photographs below. There is a complete 40
round Frankford Arsenal packet of this same type,
complete with the eight smaller internal packets and all
forty rounds of ammunition, listed in a separate listing
in this same section of our website.
Apparently manufactured for only one year as no other
dates have been noted on these early labels, it is not
surprising that these forty round ammunition packets
have survived in very limited numbers. This 40 round
box is constructed of 7 individual pieces of pasteboard,
held together by a paper wrapper which bears the printed
label.
The wrapper is complete and full form, with the
original pull tape intact and present. The wrapper was
carefully opened to remove the eight individual 5 round
packets it held, without destroying the shape or
dimensional quality of the box. The paper label is full
form and is completely legible. The box is supported by
a Styrofoam block and protected with a heavy plastic
sleeve for an attractive display.
This box was originally wrapped and sealed around eight
individual, five round packets (available in a separate
listing in this same section). Each of the eight five
round paper board packets is also labeled with the
Frankford Arsenal information and the same date. These
early packets contained the bar primed .50/70 cartridges
which preceded the Benet primed cartridges, and were
only in service for a short period of time. Although
the reason for this manner of packaging has not been
absolutely determined, the Civil War rifle cartridge
boxes in use at the time may provide the answer. When
removed from the full 40 round packet wrapper, all eight
of the individual 5 round packets could be carried in
the Civil War Infantry Cartridge box with two of the
packets in the lower section and two in the upper
section of each of the two tin liners in the cartridge
box. Thus carried, one soldier could store his full
issue of forty rounds and only unwrap those number of
cartridges needed in the immediate future, keeping the
rest of the cartridges protected in the smaller paper
board wrappers. I
Issued for use in the US Army .50 caliber rifles and
carbines alike, these packets are believed to be the
scarcest, most desirable, and historically significant
early Indian War ammunition packet, as one of the early
arsenal loadings for the Model 1866 Rifle and the Sharps
Conversion Carbines. Never common, it is believed that
a partial crate containing 25 of these 40 round packets
was found years ago, and that those 25 packets may
represent the total number in existence today. At least
two of those 40 round packets are known to have been
opened and the 5 round packets distributed in
collections around the country, further reducing the
number of complete 40 round examples remaining, hence
the relative scarcity and the commensurate value on the
market today. This external box and complete label
represents an exceptional opportunity for a collector to
add a respectable and representative example of this
scarce packet to his early Indian War collection without
having to make the substantial investment in a full
packet. These external wrappers are not regularly seen
on the market, and in fact this is only the second one I
have seen or heard of being offered in over twenty
years. Adding this packet will certainly set your
collection a cut above others and this is an offering
you are not likely to see again in the near future.
(C89) $850
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