Need help Identifying.

R

Rusty_Bucket

Inactive
Hello everyone, this is my first post here.

This box of weapons have been sitting in my parents closet for 60+ years. I have tried researching about it and have hit a dead end. The only markings i see on it are, "Dayton" on side plate and it has "Jake Ramey & Bloomington ,Ill" stamped into the top of the barrell.

I found a small article about Jake Ramey, which i included in the pictures.

I have the name of the family it was passed down to us from aswell.


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From the way the nipple mount is cutting into the decoration, and the welded cuts on the hammer, the gun got majorly changed at some point during its life. The reason you have two different markers/locations on the gun might be that it got barreled at that time too.
 
Curtis L. Johnson's "Gunmakers of Illinois" shows Jacob Ramey as being active between about 1866 and his death in 1883; he was partners with a Preston Bentley until around 1868, but this book has more info on Bentley than on Ramey. HTH.
 
Thank you for your reply.


That box of weapons was passed down to us from the Gunnell Family. Mr. Gunnell was a lawyer in Sioux city. My aunt was his secretary for 30+ years (1880 - 1910s). He told my aunt that those were his father in the civil war.

Everytime i send pictures out of this, nobody can give me any information.
They seem to be very persistent on wanting a price to buy it tho..
 
Can't tell where you are located, but if your are going to Nashville for the NRA convention, might want to take your pictures...
 
I don't know what more information you expect to be told.
You have the maker, a known gunsmith of the era, and you have a bit of provenance by family tradition. That is really pretty good.

I think "Dayton" on the lockplate indicates that ol' Jake bought the lock from a vendor in Dayton rather than filing out every little piece himself.

The neat welds on the hammer and the drum poking through the inlay are repairs that are not likely traceable.
 
Thanks everyone, I greatly appreciate all of the information supplied.

I'm not able to go to Tennessee for the convention.. Does anybody know of a reputable civil war Authenticate/ Appraisal company in Arizona?
 
That rifle is pretty late, as indicated by the maker's working dates. I would expect at that period that most of the parts and pieces would have been bought from gunsmith supply companies (there were a number of them, like Brownell's is today) rather than made by the gunsmith. If you remove the barrel from the stock, you might find a supplier's name stamped on the bottom, and the various pieces of "furniture" were probably purchased also.

Jim
 
Again, I would like to say Thank You for all the information provided, it has helped alot.

As for the sword...

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Scorch, I learned never to assume when looking at a Civil War sword. A very curved sword I was sure was a cavalry sword .No , not that one , it belonged to an artillery unit !! :D :rolleyes: One of my assumptions was that an artillery unit would be happier with a short sword !!
 
mete-
That's not a bad assumption, many artillerymen were armed with short swords, great for defense and working. Long swords were generally a symbol of rank.

An Ames or Tiffany cavalry saber was a lot more curved than a foot officer's sword.
 
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