T Ketland & Co/ J X Polm

[mbenn5217]

I’m looking for any information I can get on an old flintlock rifle I inherited from my father. It is stamped with “T Ketland & Co” on the next to the hammer. The top of the barrel is engraved with “J X Polm.” The X might be two arrows crossed, I can’t quite tell. See images.

[120RIR]

Ketland was the English lock maker - they were widely used and commercially available at the time this rifle was made.  That's possibly an "S" and the X may just be the equivalent of a period.  In other words, the signature is probably S. Polm. I'm not sure where the rifle hails from but I'm someone more in the know will weigh in soon!

[Carl Young]

Thanks for posting an interesting rifle. Enlarging the signature, it looks to my old eyes like crossed arrows, not a plain "X". Could it be John Palm of Berks County, PA?

Regards,
Carl

[rich pierce]

I’m leaning toward “J”.

[Tanselman]

The first initial looks like a "J" and the gun's patchbox finial and curved comb look like Berks Co. work to me. The barrel has been shortened 6 to 8 inches and the patchbox lid replaced, but an interesting rifle since not a lot of John Palm's work shows up.

Shelby Gallien

[smart dog]

Hi,
The Ketlands were not a lock makers.  They were located in Birmingham, UK and wholesaled guns and components for export and to the trade.  Your lock is probably from the early 19th century and was once a flintlock.  The Ketlands did considerable trade through Philadelphia, which could be the source of the lock.

dave

[JV Puleo]

The Ketlands, in this case the partnership of Thomas Ketland and William & Alexander Walker, began large scale exports to America around January of 1793. Until then there were no shipments of British guns or gun parts because they had been embargoed in 1775 and the embargo was only partially lifted in November of 1792.  Some of their shipments went to Philadelphia but they also went to Savannah, New York, Boston and even Florida. The person most often associated with the trade is Thomas Jr., in Philadelphia, but he went bankrupt in about 1803 and thereafter all of the T. Ketland shipments went to other parties, notably Simon and Alexander Walker. Simon and Alexander were sons of TK's partner and were also located in Philadelphia. In any case, K locks were very common, a staple of the hardware trade all over the east coast so I don't think anything can be learned about location from the lock aside from the fact that it was made in Birmingham.

[mbenn5217]

Thank you for all the information. What is something like this worth?

[120RIR]

Ah...I actually learned something today (re: Ketlands).  On enlarging the photos, yes, I agree it's a "J" and those do indeed look like arrows.