Another Hawken Rifle Sold at Auction

[Mtn Meek]

Rock Island Auction Company had another original Hawken rifle at the CGCA show in Denver this past May (see http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=56131.0 for an S. Hawken rifle also at the show).  This one is an original J&S Hawken.  It was originally a full stock but had been converted to half stock sometime in its working life.  It's stocked in walnut.




The lock is marked "ADOLPHUS MEIER & Co."  According to Hanson in The Hawken Rifle:  Its Place in History, "Adolphus Meier...first set foot in St. Louis March 2, 1837 (Edwards and Hopewell, 123)."  He started advertising in local papers in 1838.  This probably establishes the earliest possible date for this rifle, but Meier maintained his business into the 1860s, so the lock doesn't provide a very narrow bracket of for the date.



The rifle has typical J&S period features such as the round scroll at the back of the trigger guard and the "comma" shaped snail on the breech bolster.  The breech is not hooked but a fixed patent breech typical for J&S full stock rifles and a few half stock rifles.  The snail is similar to the one on the John Brown full stock J&S Hawken in Salt Lake City.

John Brown J&S Hawken Breech


The John Brown Hawken also has an Adolphus Meier lock.  According to the research cited in the literature, Brown purchased his rifle “in St. Louis on March 24, 1845.  He bought the rifle as he and several other young men were en route from Mississippi to Nauvoo, Illinois to join the Nauvoo Legion.”  The John Brown rifle and the subject rifle could be contemporaneous.

John Baird showed a picture of the subject rifle as Plate 40 (bottom image below) in his second book, but it's not clear that he had personally examined it because the caption under the photo seems to express some question as to whether it was originally a full stock.



Viewing the rifle at the CGCA show, I don't think there is any question it was originally a full stock.  It has a square cheekpiece that is, as far as I know, exclusively seen on J&S full stock rifles.



The nose cap is pewter and not the typical Hawken shape due to the lack of an entry pipe.  The barrel is described as 39 1/2 inches long, which may be its original length.  The description says it's .54 caliber.  The single barrel key also suggests a full stock cut back to half stock.

The barrel is stamped with  "J & S HAWKEN ST. LOUIS" on the top flat behind the rear sight.



The rifle sold for $74,750 including buyer's premium at the Rock Island Sept 8, 2019 auction.  Here's a link to the listing.

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/77/3054/documented-js-hawken-halfstock-percussion-rifle

[redheart]

Phil.
Wow, All I can say is that this is awesome Hawken information, love it, Thanks!

[Jay Close]

Hi folks! I took the liberty of forwarding this discussion to Ike Bay who is pictured holding his half stock Hawken in John Baird's book and reproduced above. He's had some problems joining the forum so he could add his own comments so asked that I  relay them to ya'll. I think the upshot is that his rifle is not comparable to the one recently sold at auction. It seems to have been an economy piece perhaps for the local trade. Anyway, here are his comments. By the way, he no longer owns the rifle he is pictured holding:

Problem is... not the same gun.
Can't remember the author, but think the books were titled Guns of the West, Vol 1 and Vol 2.
Classified some guns as sporting rifles, not as robust as the more traditional Hawken.
One example is in the Buffalo Bill Museum and another was in the author's collection.
Main design elements...cast end caps, no under rib and no hook breech. Clearly an economy gun.
The gun in my photo has a shotgun style combined ram rod pipe/ barrel key lug.
The slot is below the pipe placing it very low on the fore end.  There is a significant radius
to the fore end that is not shown very well in the photo.
John Baird was totally convinced that there were full-stocked Hawken Plains rifles,
and took the fact that the external pipes were soldered to a piece of flat stock and dove tailed to the barrel
as an indication there were once barrel keepers in those dove tails.  In view of the other "sporting rifles" his argument
does not hold up.  In my opinion. -- Ike Bay
 

[WESTbury]

Jay--Thanks to you and Ike for all the great information.

Has anyone ever attempted to compile an inventory of surviving verified Hawken rifles? Also, do the Hawken experts on this Forum have some insight as to the ratio of surviving economy Hawken rifles produced vs. surviving higher quality rifles?

My own SWAG, based on an abundance of my ignorance of the subject, would be that more lower quality rifles were made, but fewer survived. I say this because the lower quality rifles were more economical and perhaps purchased by individuals who used them more frequently, thus the wear and tear on them would have been greater.

[rich pierce]

There are plenty of economy, squirrel, or local (choose your adjective) Hawken rifles around St. Louis. Story is that one showed up at a small gun show a few years back and was acquired at what most would consider a reasonable price.