Please help identify this New England flintlock

[Dennis Glazener]

A gentleman has requested help with information on a nice flintlock and I agreed to post the photos for him. Can any of our members help? I posted the information he sent me below.
Thanks
Dennis

"A very unique Worcester County antique rifle has come into my hands.. It is an exceptional flintlock rifle, unsigned,cherry half stock, N.E. brass detailing, 45 cal, original horn tipped ramrod with attached worm, eagle patch box and it has an early hook breech..... Do you know of someone with the exceptional specific knowledge base, who might help more closely identify this rifle or it's maker??  I have included seven pictures..     Thank you very much."

[Tanselman]

Based on shape and engraved details of the patchbox, plus around edges of lock bolt washers, the gun appears to have been made by Harding Slocomb of Worcester, Massachusetts. According to Sellers' "American Gunsmiths," Slocomb worked in Worcester between about 1818 and 1830, and then moved to Homer, New York, where he worked until about 1851.  Shelby Gallien

[Arnie Dowd]

Very nice rifle with a great patchbox but I would like to ask about the horn shown in the first photo - the one with the unique in-line, relief carved ribs running from the relief bands forward to the relief ring at the spout.  What can you tell us about it origin and background.  I have a virtually identical horn but with a domed base and a bit different design of relief rings at the spout.  I have always assumed it was a "Southern" horn but of unknown specific location.  Thanks, Arnie

[art riser]

Does patch box "shape", refer simply to the typical rectangle and circle of W.C. guns, or something more specific? Are there examples.....What specifically about "the engraved details of the patchbox"?.....I agree, the engraving around the edges of the lock bolt washers are the same as the the Slocomb rifle on page 116 of Lindsay's "N.E.Gun",, are there other examples?..... Have you observed a definitive first name, etc. for Mr. Slocomb? Lindsay has "Hiram" and "Harding", while F. Allen Thompson has "Hardin" Slocomb, and ending up in Cortland, NY...... At this point you have given me one very substantial clue, the engraving on the lock bolt washers. My rifle has the same type of engraving on the "Tang". With Slocomb's training under Silas Allen, I believe he did his own engraving and did not have an itenerant engraver do the work? Can you be of further service regarding The above questions , or "hopefully" any pictures etc?

[art riser]

Arnie,, Originally obtained from Jim Dresslar's collection.. He believed 1750ish, rose wood pegs, very very very thin, with the sure hand of a cabinet maker, note, plug lob also covered with same piece of pine,, N.Y.-Philly area,, spout area "very" unique,,-string goes in and is hidden and comes out on the other side..Very difficult carving..Blow up the pictures... Hope this helps,,,,   Walter

[JV Puleo]

A very nice rifle. Lindsay's "New England Gun" is such a confused mess that its almost worthless. The patchbox is fairly distinctive and may be Slocumb (it certainly resembles the patchbox on a signed rifle) but it is important to remember that unsigned NE guns are almost impossible to identify with specific makers unless the makers used some very unusual features, which very few did. Even that can be touch-and-go. For instance, I have a rifle with some of the very distinctive features of Welcome Mathewson but with "W. Allen - 1817" on the barrel.

The engraving style is meaningless since it is likely that the same handful itinerant engravers did practically everyone's work. That is, unless the brass parts were purchased from the same supplier and came already engraved, something I believe is quite possible. The features like the two-piece sideplate, the trigger guard with the curious little projection and the wooden under-rib are NE but virtually everyone used them so they have little meaning.

The cast forend cap is quite unusual. I have never seen this on a flint rifle and I am including those that were clearly converted from flint. One long held theory by the late Don Andreasen (see Man at Arms article on NE Rifles in Volume 4 #6, unfortunately long out of print) was that the halfstock with wooden under-rib was a common repair on rifles with broken forends although I am also certain that many were made that way in the first place. I suspect that this rifle had a horn nosecap and at a later date was repaired with the cast one it now has. I don't regard that as a fault, its simply really interesting and may show it remained in use for a very long time. Its odd to see combined with the flint lock but I can't tell from the pictures if this is a reconversion or if its simply a very late flint rifle. The name on the lock, "Ashmore" is a Birmingham, England trade lock maker. My experience has been that Ashmore-marked locks are a little better than the general run of the mill export product but one almost never sees a really cheap lock on a NE rifle though they are common enough on fowlers.

Merrill Lindsay knew almost nothing about NE guns. He relied on the speculation of other collectors, nearly all of whom I knew. Most were disappointed, if not embarrassed by the book especially since he interpreted many of their guesses as facts. The aside about Martin Smith of Greenfield Mass. being the only maker that used brass triggers is a case in point. It simply isn't true.

It is also likely that virtually all NE rifles were made for members of Militia Rifle companies. They are almost all in .52-.54 caliber (I have one in about .64 caliber) and by the time they were made there was almost nothing left to hunt in New England with a large bore rifle. Today about 80% of NE is wooded. In 1830 it was about 5%!

Also... other than the article cited above, about the only other source on the subject is the chapter on Militia Rifles in George Moller's "Massachusetts Military Shoulder Arms". Unfortunately this is also out of print but if anyone is interested a bookfinder.com search should turn up a copy.