Rare Confederate Bilharz, Hall & Company Type 2 Carbine

American Civil War

.58 caliber. 22" round barrel secured by a single spring retained flat barrel band. SN: 360. Bright finish, iron furniture, smooth walnut straight gripped stock. Single shot percussion muzzleloading rifled carbine with captive ramrod and fixed sights. Externally unmarked percussion lock is missing the hammer with the hammer screw broken off in tumbler. The lock is otherwise complete with the assembly mating number B34 on its interior, mating the lock to the balance of the gun and the lock mating mark 43 or 43G inside the lock plate as well as well as on the tumbler and the sear. The barrel is correctly marked CSA on top of the breech and with a Danville Arsenal type P proof on the upper left quadrant. The rear edge of the barrel is numbered 360, a number that is generally considered the serial number for these guns, but which may only be a barrel number, indicating how many barrels were produced. The bottom of the barrel is marked with the matching mating mark B34, and this mark is also found on the upper web of the trigger. The barrel's bolster is missing the percussion nipple. Like other known examples, the interior of the triggerguard bow is marked with a P. The correct style round sling iron sling ring is attached to the rear of the trigger guard bow. Often a letter is found on the upper edge of the bottom of the buttplate, but the plate is so pitted any such mark is no longer visible. The stocks are also typically marked with the assembly mark in two lines behind the triggerguard, but in this case the wood has been lightly sanded with a coat of old varnish, so no such mark is visible. The stock is missing its nose cap, which would most likely have been pewter, as the the general consensus is the nose caps on these carbines changed from brass to pewter above barrel number 350. The correct pattern fixed notch rear sight is present on the barrel, 3" from the breech and the correct pattern "pinched" Richmond style front sight is present on the top of the barrel .875" from the muzzle. The captive ramrod appears to be original, with only the screw-off tulip shaped head missing. The rod is currently in the gun backwards, as without the tulip head to grip it is difficult to remove the rod from the channel due to pressure from the spoon. The swivel arms that hold the ramrod appear to be very old, period of use replacements that are somewhat crudely fashioned.

For years, these somewhat enigmatic percussion musketoons with no maker's name on them were attributed to the Georgia firm of D.C Hodgkins & Co. However, more in depth research published in Confederate Carbines & Musketoons by Murphy & Madaus reveal that these Confederate-made copies of the US Model 1855 Rifled Carbine were produced circa 1863-1864 by the firm of Bilharz, Hall & Co of Pittsylvania Court House (now Chatham), Virginia. This company initially produced 100 breechloading percussion carbines known to collectors as the "Rising Breech" Carbines in 1862, but then turned their attention to producing a simpler and more cost effective cavalry long arm. Total production of these guns is unknown, but estimates based upon the barrel serial numbers of extant examples suggest that only about 800 were produced of the 1,000 that were ordered by the Confederacy.

This is a newly discovered, "as found" example with the barrel number 360. Extant examples known to Murphy & Madaus at the time of their publications were #61 and #307 with brass nose caps, and #353, #428, #432, #451, #479, #539 and #704 with pewter nosecaps. This example is only 7 numbers from a previously known example and brings the total to 10 known examples, although it is likely that at another one or two have been discovered since the publication of the book. An incredibly scarce example of a Confederate-made carbine missing from most advanced Confederate small arms collections, with likely only a dozen or so known surviving examples.

This lot is located in Cincinnati.