M1816 flintlock musket at auction

[Meteorman]

A type II M1816 from the Harpers Ferry armory, dated 1821.
unfortunately, I couldn't hang around the auction long enough to see what it brought.

[TPH]

Very nice gun in "attic" condition, they are getting harder and harder to find. It would have been interesting to know the price.

[fm tim]

That is a type 1 musket.  Type 2 had the sling swivel attached directly to the fromt of the trigger guard bow.  A large number of there muskets were converted to percussion in later years so an unconverted flintlock such as this commands a premium.

See:
"The Southern Arsenal"
by D. Hartzel and J. Whisker
Old Bedford Village Press
Bedford Pa
1996

[mr. no gold]

This is one type of the muskets used in the U.S. War with Mexico. Given that it has a name and a date on it we know that it was used up in the later years, or closer to the war. Great find, and as noted above, worth a lot more than the standard conversion, most often seen today. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. Much appreciated!
Dick   

[satwel]

fm tim,

The reason this musket is still in its original flintlock configuration may be because of the date in which it was made. When the national armories converted flintlocks to percussion, they chose only muskets made after 1822. They were considered more uniform and of higher quality than muskets made prior to 1822.

What a great find! I hope whoever won the auction gives it a good home.

[TPH]

It is also possible, even probable, that this musket was in a state inventory and was not converted for that reason. Many states were severely lagging in their militia arms maintenance programs, conversions were not progressing rapidly anywhere until the emergency of 1861. Many state regiments, both North and South, went into service carrying flint muskets, even fighting their first battles with flint arms. Stonewall Jackson was still requisitioning flints for his troops' muskets as late as the Valley Campaign of 1862 and beyond.

Another indicator of state as opposed to Federal service is the name carved into the stock, something that could happen in pre-War state service where discipline was almost always lacking unlike Federal service where defacing equipment was a severely punishable offense to say the least.

[fm tim]

TPH and satwel,
Certainally could be,  I could find no relevant comments in the Whisker book.  My data re conversion came during a recent appraisal for insurance purposes.
I have both a Type I and a Type II both unconverted, 1820 lock date on the type I and 1839 lock date on the type II.  The type I suffered from an exploded breech so its value is very low.