This look like a repro?

[EmGeeGeorge]

A friend has this... Anybody know if it looks like an original or a repro?

 

[Jim Watson]

I'm not going to pronounce on originality, but Parkers', Snow, and Co. of Meridian Conn. was a legitimate contract manufacturer of about 15,000 rifle muskets during the War Between the States. Flayderman says an 1863 dated lockplate is less common than an 1864 with some oddities I will not attempt to copy down.

 

[Ron James]

If you want a guess from looking at a photo, it's not a reproduction.

 

[Oro]

it's not a reproduction.

My estimate/guess from the photos, too. We have a an 1863 musket and a Parker from the 1880s. The metal and wood fitment and finish are consistent with 19th century work.

 

[2RCO]

looks right to me.. but I'd like to see a better picture of that sideplate so I could read the contractor.

 

[2RCO]

Just magnified the photo--She's the real deal.

 

[skeet king]

Yeup it looks Real

 

[EmGeeGeorge]

any idea of value...?

 

[Jim K]

To put a name on it, it is a standard Model 1861 contract rifle musket. I usually end up with a WAG that is too low on that CW stuff, but I would say $800-1000 tops. The gun is not in good shape, but appears to be all there. That is the kind of gun a lot of folks like to "restore", for better or worse.

Parkers' Snow made some 15,000 of them. The 1863 lockplate may have been originally made by another contractor, but there are many unknowns about those Model 1861 contracts.

Jim