Author Topic: Dutch Lock ID help  (Read 244 times)

Offline Sam B

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Dutch Lock ID help
« on: September 20, 2025, 08:11:22 PM »
Picked this large Dutch flintlock. It’s engraved “Thone” and “Amsterdam”
I found a few things made by Thone but they all seem to be later period then this lock.
I wanted to know if anyone has a timeframe when this lock would’ve been made?
There is also a stamp on the inside of the lock plate that has three letters I can only make a “D” in the middle.
I would like to recovert it to flint eventually one day. Please let me know what you think.
Thanks














Online rich pierce

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Re: Dutch Lock ID help
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2025, 10:56:45 PM »
A friend of mine with more knowledge than I would say this is a Napoleonic era military lock later converted to percussion.
Andover, Vermont

Offline backsplash75

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Re: Dutch Lock ID help
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2025, 12:10:33 AM »
Hoff's Dutch Firearms ( https://www.google.com/books/edition/Dutch_Firearms/oKsvAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Thone ) mentions on p174 that Thone moves from Liege to Amsterdam in 1781 and that he has no info on him in guild records after 1810.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2025, 12:16:56 AM by backsplash75 »

Offline Adrie luke

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Re: Dutch Lock ID help
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2025, 01:58:54 PM »

Offline smart dog

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Re: Dutch Lock ID help
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2025, 02:05:45 PM »
Hi,
Your lock probably was made at the very end of the 18th century or the first decade of the 19th.  Thone built a small factory to produce military guns from 1797-1812.  I suspect the missing pan was brass and the flintcock double throated.  It does not look like any changes were made to the lock plate.  The detachable pan, bolster, and bridle were simply removed and a percussion hammer installed.  The workman did not even fill the old holes.

dave
"The main accomplishment of modern economics is to make astrology look good."

Online rich pierce

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Re: Dutch Lock ID help
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2025, 03:18:29 PM »
Sam, if you reconverted this with a rounded earlier continental cock it would look just fine on a composite gun made here 1770-ish.

Possible derailment but I think you’ve got your questions answered. There are limited options for locks for colonial composite guns. The Davis round faced English lock was very plausible in appearance for such use. No pan bridle, looking very Wilson-ish. A cock with a post to engage a slotted top jaw would have improved its externals for such use in my view. The very fine English locks available are quite high end and in my view, well above what we see on most colonial originals. I totally understand why lock makers copy the best designs but I wish for production non-Germanic locks that fits composite fowlers, trade guns, and militia muskets of the colonial period. Dutch, French, and English. Just my lens. Usually an outlier type of data point. Rifles are the focus here.
Andover, Vermont

Offline JTR

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Re: Dutch Lock ID help
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2025, 04:46:09 PM »
  I suspect the missing pan was brass and the flintcock double throated.  It does not look like any changes were made to the lock plate.  The detachable pan, bolster, and bridle were simply removed and a percussion hammer installed.  The workman did not even fill the old holes.
dave

I have the parts Dave mentions, that might work for you. I'm not sure these are exactly what Dave described, but might well be appropriate. Maybe Dave can reply?
John




« Last Edit: September 21, 2025, 05:10:23 PM by JTR »
John Robbins