Estimate

£300 - £400

North American Plains Indian Percussion Gun circa 1860s, approx .750 bore, fashioned out of old and hand-crafted parts, as was typical of these guns, with 29 in. barrel, the tang dated 1842, the lock from an 1840s French musket stamped 'MRE ST. ETIENNE’ and held with pinned patches, the hammer with a brass weld, full walnut stock with the barrel retained by two hand-crafted brass bands and shrunken raw-hide binding, the wrist stained where raw-hide binding has previously been in place in typical Plains Indian fashion, the butt decorated with brass studs again in typical Indian fashion, with the butt-plate stamped ‘17.G’, complete with a period raw-hide sling. Historical records of the American Frontier show the majority of long guns carried by Indians up to around 1880 were single shot percussion muzzleloaders. An interesting and rare survivor.