English builder Clemetshaw? - pics added

[bigsky]

Does anyone have any information about a builder by the name of Clemetshaw out of Aldborough, England?  I have just acquired a flintlock fowler/game gun by this maker and am trying to pin down a probable age.

[Mike Brooks]

Get us some pictures and we can probably nail down a time of manufacture for you.

[Feltwad]

Big sky

The gun  you mention was built by the provincial gun maker Thomas Clemetshaw of Easingwold Yorkshire.He was first recorded in 1827 working at Long Lane and then Chapel Lane in  1833..Although 1827 is the first listing he could still have been in business much early than this date. Proof marks will help.
Hope this has been of some help
Feltwad

[bigsky]

Some more details …

Clemetshaw halfstock flintlock fowler/game gun

Gold touch mark with CLEMETSHAW and ALDBOROUGH along sides of touchmark
Crown over V over * over P down center of touch mark, no other proof marks on barrel

Lock stamped CLEMETSHAW
Lock has roller frizzen
Single lock bolt, no side plate

54” overall
3” drop
13.75” length of pull
.25” cast off, toed in

English walnut stock, checkered wrist, horn tipped forestock

38.5” 11 bore octagon to round barrel
Silver inlaid half moons and dots at transition from octagon to round
Silver spider front sight
Gold touch hole liner
Mottled Damascus or faux Dmascus barrel

[bigsky]

I just found a tombstone record for Thomas Clemetshaw in Easingwold.  It states that he died in December 1852 at the age of 58.  Assuming that this is the same person and that he went into business between the ages of 20 and 30, I assume that he could have made guns from approximately the early 1820s into the 1850s.  Do the characteristics of this gun fit that time frame?  Would you guess earlier or later in that period?

[gusd]

Wow, LOOK at the curl in the stump rifle is sitting on!
gus

[Feltwad]

To  give a definite date  will be difficult because the parts of your gun are from different periods.
The barrel looks very much like a Spanish iron barrel with a marble figure of the 1780s .the beaver tail finish on the ramrod rib is also typical of the period .The proof marks a prior 1813  and are London , the crown over V is the viewers mark and the crown over GP is the definite proof.The trigger guard with the acorn finial is prior 1786  after this date the pineapple finial  was mostly used. The lock with a rainproof pan and roller frizzen is more of the 1810-20. The stock is also of that period most early flinters were minus the wedge escutcheons
I would say Clemetshaw would have built this gun with parts he had at hand from 1827 onwards.
Feltwad

[bigsky]

Thanks for the info Feltwad.  I was wondering if you could expand with a description of how the gold viewmark on this gun differs from a normal proofmarked barrel, and how the viewmark dates the barrel prior to 1813.  I'm just curious because the two parts of the gun that have the maker's name are the viewmark and the lock (which overlap in time for only a few years).

Just a note:  This gun appears to be very similar to a gun that was Auctioned by Holts in 2006 (same barrel details and stock design, but with no escutchions and earlier designed lock).

[Feltwad]

Has I said the proof marks are prior 1813 and are London after 1813 the mark of a lion over the letter G was added. Clemetshaw  must have used this barrel to build a later gun he also could have had his name engraved on the barrel , Most Spanish barrels had a barrel makers name or the Madrid cross inlaid with gold  on the barrel flat with the English proof marks stamped on the side flat see the image of three flintlocks from my collection which have been converted to percussion using the drum and nipple principle
Feltwad

[bigsky]

Thanks again Feltwad for sharing your knowledge.  I just wanted to post a sketch I made of the gold viewer's mark/touch mark inlaid on the top flat of the barrel (shown in the 6th photo).  The maker's name, location, and viewer's marks are are stamped into the gold barrel inlay.  All of these appear to have been stamped at the same time and it does not appear that Clemetshaw added his name after the viewer's stamps were made.

[StuffofHistory]

Hi

Do you still have this gun and if so can you send some photos ?

Thanks

[Bob Roller]

NO pictures here.
Bob Roller

[T*O*F]

The post is from 2010 and the poster is no longer a member.
This info can be found in the original post if one took the time to look.

With reading, as with building rifles, little details often matter.

[Hungry Horse]

 No pictures for me either. I’m starting to feel left out.

Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

No pics for me.