December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
An extremely rare Pattern 1757 Sea Service musket with bayonet. Round, tapered iron barrel bearing centered Ordnance view and proof marks before breech, 42 in. long overall and of .79 bore. Flat lock with faceted, unbridled pan with engraved edge lines and marked "VERNON / 1758" vertically on tail of lock, with "[crown] / GR" before flat, reinforced cock and crown/broad arrow inspection stamp under the pan. Original English walnut fullstock, with inspection marks behind trigger guard and setup markings within ramrod channel. Brass mounts include flat buttplate, flat side plate, characteristic Sea Service trigger guard, and 3 "barrel" pipes for the brass-capped, wooden ramrod. The musket has a 42-inch barrel, indicating that it was one of the "bright-finished" musket, the shorter, 37" barrel version being japanned or finished "black". Standard arm issued out for Royal Navy ships for use by marksmen in sea battles and in fitting out boarding or landing parties. Sea Service muskets of this form were issued out to American provincial regiments in the French & Indian War and again in 1775, when 2,000 Sea Service muskets were shipped to Nova Scotia to arm the new-raised Provincial (Loyalist) corps and militia being and another 5,000 shipped to New York the following year for the same purpose. The associated bayonet is of proper 1750s-60s form and has the maker's name stamped on the blade: "DAWES", is well fitted to the musket, and of matching patina with "rack marks" on the socket, "F/5", clearly indicating original issue to some military unit. CONDITION: The ironwork of barrel and lock now a dark gunmetal shade with uniform, light freckling to the barrel and lock and light to moderate pitting around vent and pan area; inspection of the barrel with bore scope reveals that it is in untouched, original flint configuration. The associated lock is in good working order, but is a skillfully executed and aged reconversion, with replaced cock, pan, frizzen and frizzen spring--the internal parts all original. The stock with the usual age dings and bruises, with a "pinwheel" star incised on the left face of the buttstock; some very minor wood restoration around lock mortise, when the replacement lock was mounted to the musket; the wooden ramrod of correct form, but later replacement. JLK Barrel Length: 42" Caliber/Bore: .79 Smoothbore FFL Status: Antique Manufacturer: Vernon Model: 1757 Sea Service Musket Serial Number: NSN