Huge Old Lock

[Eric Krewson]

A guy on another site found this lock in his dad's stuff and wanted to know what it might be, any ideas? It appears to be huge.

[Tim Crosby]

 Got a shot of the back? TC

[Hlbly]

British East India Company Brown Bess lock.

[Hungry Horse]

Too big for a Bess lock, it must have been for a wall gun, or punt gun.

  Hungry Horse

[OLUT]

A similar lock was posted on the British Military Forum in March. That post  and the subsequent responses describe their usage on cheaply made trade guns  used in the slave trade that were marked with the Elephant and Castle marking of the "Company of Merchants Trading to Africa". It is very interesting reading!

[Daryl]

Too big for a Bess lock, it must have been for a wall gun, or punt gun.

  Hungry Horse

Same ideas here - even too large for a 4 bore, seems to me. Appears to have been made in India, according to the elephant stamp on the lock plate - just a guess.

[James Rogers]

A similar lock was posted on the British Military Forum in March. That post  and the subsequent responses describe their usage on cheaply made trade guns  used in the slave trade that were marked with the Elephant and Castle marking of the "Company of Merchants Trading to Africa". It is very interesting reading!

This is correct per Blackmore.

[perce]

The fall 1966 issue of The Bulletin of the American Society of Arms Collectors illustrates this mark in an article by Charles Hanson, identifies
it as, "British African Mark" , topic of article is trade guns.

[Daryl]

The fall 1966 issue of The Bulletin of the American Society of Arms Collectors illustrates this mark in an article by Charles Hanson, identifies
it as, "British African Mark" , topic of article is trade guns.

Interesting it would be called British AFRICAN Mark (not INDIAN Mark) as the elephant is an Indian Elephant with a Howdah aboard - something that was NEVER done with an African elephant, that I am aware of.