Help me ID this 19th century shotgun

H

htb

Inactive
I was hoping someone here could give me a little information and value estimate on this gun. It's been in the family for years and I've always been told it was a Confederate shotgun. There are no identification plates or proofmarks on it but there are some engravings done by hand. Someone carved "J.A.W." at two different places on the gun along with the numbers "9-788" and I can almost make out what looks like either "JULY" or "7uyk". You can see the engravings in the pictures I took. I always though "J.A.W" was the owner's initials. Thanks for the help.

Link to the slideshow: http://s928.photobucket.com/albums/ad124/htb2c/?action=view&current=IMG_0774.jpg"]
 
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The CSA took any arm they could find, including shotguns. They even had a factory in Richmond that converted shotguns to military arms. This could be one such, but I see no official stamp.

The stamps were usually either CS or CSA, and with an inspector's stamp indicating it had passed inspection and could be issued. I don't have such a list at present, but they are out there.

HTH....
 
The shotgun looks a lot like an Allen (company names over time include Ethan Allen, Allen & Thurber, Allen & Wheelock and E.Allen & Co.) I'd guess the carvings on the stock were done by one or more owners. These things tend to get used to death, so are usually encountered in fair to poor condition. Yours looks like a nice one. I base my S.W-A.G. on the look of your shotgun's lockwork, which STRONGLY resembles the Allen rifles I've seen, although none of my references list an Allen shotgun like this. You might get an idea of your gun's value by googling "Allen Muzzleloading sidehammer Shotgun" and looking at sales on the various auction sites.
 
I just took my own advice and found exactly one for sale similar to yours. The seller's starting point is $450.
The trigger guard is different, but other than that it looks close. Unfortunately, there's only one photo of the gun on the auction listing.
 
Surbat- I looked into Allen muzzleloaders and I definitely agree that mine bares a strong resemblance. I also read that it's common for Allen shotguns to have no markings which is consistent with my gun. The only things that are off are the triggerguard and hammer. I'm gonna take it to an expert tomorrow to find out for sure. I'll let yall know what he says.

EDIT: Another thing that doesn't make much sense to me is that Allen rifles were produced in Massachusetts and Connecticut. I'm not positive that it was a CSA rifle, but I do know that it was used by a Tennessean. Would a 19th century southerner have used a rifle from New England?
 
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Would a 19th century southerner have used a rifle from New England?
Click to expand...

A lot of our rifles came from England.... What we didn't produce ourselves or steal from the yanks.:D
 
The action looks almost exactly like a .45 Wesson muzzleloader, I used to own.

I don't have a pic of my Wesson rifle, but this is a newer replica that look's similar, but is made of different material:

DSCN1451.jpg


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I showed it to an expert today. It's a Whitney single barrel 20 ga (Eli Whitney) made from 1866-1869 so there's no confederate history to it. Valued around $400. The Eli Whitney connection is interesting. Kinda bummed that it wasn't battle-tested like I previously believed. I'm just glad to finally know what it is. Thanks for your help!
 
Thanks for the info, HTB. I just rechecked Flayderman's Guide and, by golly, there's a listing for the Whitney percussion shotgun. The book says thebarrel's marked "WHITNEY ARMS CO., WHITNEYVILLE, CONN. HOMOGENEOUS WROUGHT STEEL". It also says the shotguns are quite scarce. Although the company made a bunch, the survival rate is low. Thanks for showing your shotgun! I actually learned something (it's getting harder every year to get new knowledge through my adamantine cranium).
Upshot is - you have a nice antique shotgun! I like to hold an old gun like this and imagine what farmer might have taken it from behind the kitchen door to shoot that fox in his chicken coop. It's not as exciting and romantic as a desperate stand holding off the Yankees, but it's still pretty cool!
 
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