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Frontier Firearms from the Lifetime Collection of Larry Ness
|
- Sale 1987
Live
| Cincinnati
Jun 8 | 10:00 AM EDT
Live
| Cincinnati
Sale 1987
| Cincinnati
| Cincinnati
Estimate$2,000 – $3,000
.68 caliber. 36" pinned round barrel. SN: NSN. Bright finish, brass furniture, full-length walnut stock. Percussion altered flint lock marked with the "{Circle-Fox}" motif under the bolster and in marked in two vertical arcs "WHEELER/& SON" at the tail. Drum bolster alteration, with lightly engraved civilian-style percussion hammer. Barrel with post-1813 Birmingham commercial proof marks. Flat geometric S-shaped military style side plate, flat brass buttplate, large iron triggerguard. Two corrugated brass pipes secure an old wood ramrod. The firm of Wheeler & Son was the continuation of a Birmingham business established by Robert Wheeler (3) circa 1799, adding "& Son" circa 1814 and continuing operation until about 1843. While Wheeler did deliver British Board of Ordnance trade guns under the 1813 contract during the War of 1812, he never appears to have contracted with the Hudson's Bay Company or the American Fur Company and the majority of the Wheeler trade guns appear to have reached Native hands through the old Northwest Company of Montreal. Interestingly Wheeler guns do not follow the prototypical Northwest, particularly in terms of caliber, which was larger than the standard trade gun.
The Collection of Larry Ness
Good to very good. Moderately oxidized metal with a brownish-gray patina and some scattered pitting, particularly around the breech and bolster area. Lock functional, percussion cone broken, bore moderately pitted and dark. Wood lightly sanded with bumps, dings and mars. Triggerguard loose.
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Tim Carey
Associate Vice President, Head of Department, Arms, Armor and Militaria
