A silver-plated Hawken. Really?

[Loudy]

Awhile back I built myself what I consider to be a presentation grade half-stock Hawken style plains rifle (ca. 1850-1860).  Highly figured walnut stock, fancy capbox, lots of engraving, and silver-plated inlays and mounts (trigger-guard, lower entry pipe, and buttplate).  Ever since I built this gun I've wondered how historically appropriate or accurate the silver electro-plating was on this type of firearm?  I did a bit of research using the Library of Congress digitalized historic newspapers found on their excellent www.chroniclingamerica.loc.org website.  I found several early advertisements for electro-plating services.  By the early to mid 1850's electro-plating became quite common in the more settled portions of the country. It is entirely feasible that silver-plated parts could have been used on this type of gun back-in-the-day.  I am much more comfortable with my decision to fancy-up my rifle with silver-plated components than I was before doing this research.  Below are a few of the newspaper clippings I found...
 
The earliest I found was from the Alexandria Gazette (April 3, 1843).   



Because I had build a Hawken-style rifle, I was particularly interested in finding references to early electro-plating being done in the Midwest region or Mississippi River valley.  Below is one I found from The Democratic Whig, Columbus, MS (Sept. 21, 1843).



Thought this one from the Richmond Palladium, Richmond, IN (Dec. 26, 1849) was interesting.  It appears that photographers may have been some of the first commercial electro-platers.  Make sense considering the chemistry skills needed for both occupations   



Here is another from the Glasgow Weekly Times, Glasgow, MO (Oct. 27, 1859).  Glasgow, MO is located on the Missouri River about half-way between St. Louis and Kansas City. 



Hope some of you find this of interest.

Mark "Loudy" Loudenslager

[louieparker]

Mark the Creamer rifle made for William Clark has some sort of plated inlays..So does at least one of his flint pistols. Both made in flint..The base metal is about the color of pewter .  Attaching a photo, enlarge to examine. ..LP


image upload

[Loudy]

Louie,
Was hoping you would comment.  I saw a post of your’s from a couple years ago regarding this topic.  Was going to comment on that thread but decided to start a new one.  I’m surprised more originals with silvered and gilded parts haven’t turned up.  Perhaps this is because the early plating was very thin and not very durable.  Probably not nearly of the quality and thickness we see today.  The electro-plating on a gun with even mild use may have worn away quickly.  Unfortunately the Library of Congress website doesn’t include any of the early St.Louis newspapers yet.  I think it’s reasonable to assume there was a jeweler or photographer in St. Louis offering electro-plating service by the late 1840’s.  Maybe located just around the corner from the Hawken/Gemmer shop. Thanks also for the photos of the great Cramer rifle built for William Clark. 
Mark

[louieparker]

Mark,   I think Clark died in 1838. I would think both of the guns I mentioned would be well before 1838   Louie

[jerrywh]

Silver plating was done much earlier than this but it wasn't done electrically. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780750616119500224

[Loudy]

Jerry & Louie,
Thank you both for the information.  Clearly earlier guns like the Philip Creamer rifle and pistol didn't have any electro-plated parts.  Electro-plating was probably not used on any American guns made before 1845-1850.
Loudy

[rich pierce]

C’mon, Loudy - you opened the door - show us the rifle!

[mountainman70]

Yes, please do show us. Inquiring minds vant to know !!! Dave F

[Loudy]

Been out of town.  I’ll post some photos of my rifle tomorrow. It’s not the sort of Hawken carried by any mountain man.  More like a rifle owned by a river boat captain or St. Louis merchant.
Loudy

[Loudy]

Here are a few photos of my rifle.  It is built around a Mark DeHaas straight tapered barrel in .54 cal.  The piece of walnut I won at a Bevel Bros. chunk gun match.  Made the patchbox from scratch.  The other hardware was acquired from Don Stith and TOW.  A very skilled friend of mine did the colorcase hardening and engraving work.  A local company here in St. Louis did the electro-plating.  Shot a nice buck with this rifle a couple years ago.  Happy to answer any other questions.  Loudy       

[rich pierce]

Let the drooling begin!

[Daryl]

Agreed!

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

An exceptionally well done contemporary Hawken rifle.  Many thanks for the images.  Completely credible.

[mountainman70]

Very nice, thanks for sharing. Dave F

[Loudy]

Thank you all for the comments about my rifle.  It was an enjoyable project.  It's important for me to add that I received a lot of guidance from Bob Browner here in St. Louis.  Anyone who has built a Hawken rifle knows they're much more difficult than they look.  I've been doing an informal apprentice program under Bob Browner for the last ten years or so.  I've enjoyed every minute!  The last Hawken I built was a plain-Jane fullstock, flintlock equipped rifle.  This has become my favorite deer hunting gun.  I have all the parts on my bench now for my next Hawken project.  A recreation of Francis Parkman's Hawken rifle.  I even have a nice Bob Roller lock for this one!  There won't be any electro-plating on that gun!
Loudy 
   
     

[Herb]

See <whitemuzzleloading.com/doc's-ramblings>  Scroll down to "The Truly Traditional Hawken".  Quote re furniture: "... mostly iron fittings with silver occasionally thrown into the mix."  Also, "The fore-end cap....was most often iron sometimes silver plated in the Hawken".

[Loudy]

Herb,

Thank you for the website reference to silver-plating done on original Hawken rifles.  It is an interesting read.  Also , enjoyed seeing the photos of the early fullstock Hawken featured on the same website. I've always considered the iron-mounted fullstock flintlock Hawken that I built to be a "fantasy" gun.  It's fun to hunt with!     

Mark     

[jerrywh]

Hey Loudy.
  There were silver mounted American long rifles way before 1850.

[Loudy]

Jerry,
Yes, plenty of examples of solid silver mounted guns prior to 1850.  However, not many electro-plated silver mounted guns before then.  The technology was just being commercialized and becoming available at that point. 
Loudy

[T.C.Albert]

I believe James Black the famous Arkansas Bowie knife maker was a silver plater by trade, and that his apprenticeship to that trade ended in or about 1818.
Beautiful rifle Mark...
TC

[Loudy]

Tim,
Thank you for your contribution to this thread.  You compelled me to do a bit of research on famous bladesmith James Black (1800-1872).  I learned that prior to moving West to Arkansas, where he became known for his fine Bowie knives, he did indeed apprentice under a well known silver plater named Stephen Henderson in Philadelphia, PA.  From sources I found online, Mr. Henderson practiced the art of “Sheffield plating” of silver which he learned in Sheffield, England. Sheffield plating consists of fusing a sheet of solid silver to a sheet of copper with heat.  When German silver became available abt. 1835, it was often used instead of copper.  Sheffield plating with silver preceded electro-plating of silver by many decades. From everything I’ve read, electro-plating didn’t become available till after abt. 1845.  The layer of silver metal applied by the Sheffield plate process is generally much thicker than what is achieved with electro-plating method. 
Mark