Made by Eric Kettenburg, 2025. This is probably Northampton Co. given the carved ‘liberty head’ forward of guard and is definitely representative of a ‘restock.’ The buttplate, guard and lock are recycled from a European gun and the sideplate looks British, perhaps a trade gun or martial piece? It’s a fairly substantial sideplate. Very long (51 1/2”) .69/14 gauge smoothbore barrel but light in weight with both rear and front sights. The silver wrist inlay looks British in style and is nailed on while the cheek star is clearly bone. The moderate carving is fairly simplistic, most notable behind the cheek. The stock is either cherry or other fruitwood, now very dark but with deep mahogany color in good light and a slightly more ‘grainy’ quality than typically seen in cherry. Originally this was stocked with a wooden box but a brass box was clearly added quite early in its life; the dovetail in the buttplate was neatly filled and there are a couple of different levels of repairs/mods to the box release, but some of the original wood box rails remain evident in the mortise. A very old broken toe repair is clearly notable also with an added toe plate and there is a small obvious repair to a chipped triggerguard. This is strongly reminiscent of some surviving German or Belgian guns (assumed to be export guns) of the 1760s-1780s era that made their way here, but the furnishings are considerably better quality and this one is clearly an American stocking. It has a competent charm and good lines but simultaneously seems quite hasty a bit crude in decoration, possible production immediately prior to the outbreak of the War being likely. The lock functions and sparks well with a replacement mainspring and very light trigger. Despite its length, the gun is only 7 pounds on the nose. Trigger reach is @ 13.75″. Overall, displays much age and use, more realistic ‘in hand’ than the photos are able to capture. Price: $4500 plus shipping in wooden crate (I’ll need a few days to make one).
Contact me at kettenburgs@epix.net .
