Late 18th Century Germanic Fusil by Schneevoigt Altered to Percussion

.70 caliber. 37.5" pinned octagon to round barrel with nearly full-length top flat. SN: NSN. Browned finish, brass furniture, full-length European hardwood stock with raised cheek rest. Single shot, muzzleloading smoothbore fowler altered to percussion. 5.25" curved, rounded lock with pronounced teat at the rear is altered to percussion from flint and marked Schneevoigt forward of the hammer. Alteration is by the drum or "French" method. Breech of barrel decorated with raised shell motifs and silver inlaid foliate decorations, has a flat rib running from the breech to the front sight and has a long, low German silver front sight typical of Germanic and Low Country arms of the period. The gun is mounted with an open work, floral motif brass side plate and a similarly decorated wide brass buttplate and triggerguard. An old, iron buttonhead ramrod is secured by two pinned corrugated brass pipes, but the decorative brass plate at the stock entry is missing. The full-length stock features a raised cheek rest with raised carved foliate scrolls at the front and rear of the rest, as well as a lovely raised carved foliate apron around the tang. The wide butt measures 2.2" in width at the widest point, again typical of "rifles" of this era. The forend features an incised line running most of its length, but the forend reinforcement cap is missing.

Stockel offers a couple of potential Schneevoigts who could be the maker of this gun. One worked in Baden circa 1776-1783. Johann Christoph worked in Schonebeck, Sachsen+Schleswig and Schleswig-Holsteign circa 1729-1799 with his son Christian Fredrick joining him in Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein circa 1764 and working until 1799. A lovely and high grade gun when it was new, now showing more than 200 years of age and still remaining quite presentable.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.

Good. Smooth bore is poor, dark, dirty, heavily oxidized and rusted. Barrel with a rich uncleaned, thickly oxidized brown patina. The metal shows some scattered surface roughness and light pitting but retains much of the silver inlay at the breech. Brass with a mostly rich, uncleaned patina. Brass fitting at ramrod entry missing, forend reinforcement cap missing. Lock remains mechanically functional. Ramrod appears period. Stock remains crisp and un-sanded with nice raised carvings. There are a series of repaired cracks around the lock mortise, under it and around the counterpane that appear to have been stabilized. Wood shows numerous scattered bumps, dings and mars from 200 years of use and storage.

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Late 18th Century Germanic Fusil by Schneevoigt Altered to Percussion

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