Sea Horse Trade Mark

mooncoon

mooncoon

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I had a question today from a friend; he recently bought a gun which he described as a trade gun although to me it sounded more like a fowler. It is a percussion 10 guage with a half octagon barrel and a very large trigger guard but no serpent on the left side. Regardless of whether or not it is a trade gun or a fowler, the gun has what he described as a sea horse stamped on the lock plate and which presumably is a maker's trade mark.
Question therefore is; do any of you know of a company with a sea horse or sea horse like trademark? He described the gun as being conspicuously old as opposed to a modern replica

cheers mooncoon
 
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Mooncoon: This may be of use. From Bonham's: Item # 4203. "An American St. Louis style percussion fowling gun. Round .81 caliber smoothbore barrel; 46 1/4 inches with patent breech and faded markings. Musket style lock with a seahorse inside an oval on the rear tang. Brass mounted with extra large trigger guard." Location of Seahorse mark not exactly as you describe in your post, but similar enough in style to suggest that your friend's fowler was likely American made (Though the maker is unknown, at this time). The oversized trigger guard, though not unusual, likewise fits the description. Hopefully this bit of information may provide you with more clues as to the gun's maker and origin.
 
Mooncoon: I managed to find a bit more information on the seahorse trademark on the fowling gun's lockplate. The lock appears to be of British manufacture and was found from about 1850 onwards. From what little information I have managed to gather, these fowling pieces were likely built as North American trade guns. Unfortunately, no specific maker is mentioned.....at least as far as I have seen. I saved the page from the forum I found this tidbit on, which includes photos of a fowling piece very similar to the one you described. As a matter of interest, this information was found on the International Military Antiques website...www.IMA.USA. In the British Militaria section. If you would like a copy of the page/photos, pls pm me and I will forward it to you.
 
Mooncoon: Googled: "19th Century Trade Lock Gun Marks", and came up with an online copy of Flayderman's Guide. Under the section: "Indian Trade Guns and Indian owned Guns", (Section XVIII, Miscellaneous), a description of the very gun your friend has appears. This includes the half octagon/half round barrel, oversized trigger guard, etc. No mention is made of a specific maker, as there appeared to be any number of them at the time. I suspect the seahorse was a trade mark for one of these. The Hudson Bay Company though, stamped the locks on their trade guns with a "fox" mark. From the photos, the lock appears to be an Enfield-type. Likely produced for the trade in Birmingham; possibly London. Still not enough information to positively identify this gun, but at least it is a generic example of a still existing "Northwest Trade Gun.". Hope this info is useful.
 
Mooncoon: You are welcome. I'm sure the information will surface eventually. May take a bit of digging....but thats part of the challenge. Whatever the result, your friend turned up an interesting piece of this continent's history.
 
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