Item #010- Percussion Altered Ketland & Co Officer's Fusil Pictured in "The English Connection .65 caliber. 38.75" round pinned barrel. SN: 13. Browned finish with brass furniture and a walnut stock. Lock marked "T / KETLAND / & Co" in three lines, barrel engraved "N 13", a rack or issue number. Breech with post-1813 Birmingham proof marks. Lock altered to percussion via the "French" or "drum & bolster" system. Brass furniture includes a simple two-screw buttplate, two-screw S-shaped side plate, nose cap, two tapered ramrod thimbles and an entry pipe. A classic example of a the late 18th to early 19th century British "Officer's Fusil", essentially a slimmed down, lightened version of the India Pattern (3rd Model) Brown Bess in carbine bore (nominally .65-.67 caliber), intended for use by junior officers instead of the traditional spontoon or pole arm more commonly issued prior to the Seven Years War period. The design fused the best of the British military Brown Bess design with the grace of the French Fusil de Chasse. The gun retains the form of the late 18th century Officer's Fusil. The stock retains the raised carved apron around the breech plug tang with some carved molding behind the lock, as well as a well defined rail at the comb to wrist transition, features that were slowly falling away from British military arms at the time this gun was made. This gun could well have seen service in America during the waning days of the War of 1812 in its original flint configuration, having subsequently been altered to percussion with a very "American" blacksmith style bolster screwed into the touchhole and somewhat crudely executed. This exact gun is pictured and described on pages 122-123 of The English Connection - Arms, Material and Support Furnished to the Confederate States of America by Great Britain by Prichard, Huey, Nichols, Prince & Thomas.
Condition: Good. Metal with a rich, dark brown, heavily oxidized patina showing some evenly distributed pitting and erosion on the barrel and lock. Brass furniture with a rich, uncleaned ocher to brown patina. Markings remain legible, lock remains functional, bore fair showing heavy oxidation and pitting. Stock with scattered bumps, dings and mars, some chipping and minor cracking at the apron around the tang and showing scattered flecks of old white wash. Missing ramrod and both sling swivels.
Price: $1295
