Tell me about my J. Manton & Co shotgun...

Island'r

Island'r

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This old shotgun has been in my family for genereations.

I believe it belonged to my Great, Great, Grandmother...

Just wondering if anyone could tell me the year, where they were made, etc etc...

The only markings are "J Manton & Co" "Royal Damascus" "Choke Bored" and then under and between the barrels is the number "3 8 4 4" as well as a bunch of other markins which I cannot make out...

Any info would be appreciated!

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A picture of the action table and the barrel flats will tell the whole story. At first glance it looks like a
JABC (just another Belgian clunker)

Don't be fooled by a famous name, especially on a double, this was often done in the gun trade at the time.
A true Manton would likely be signed perhaps with his full name John Manton.

I have a Manton JABC in my collection in 20 gau. The main reasons are - hard to find a SxS, hammer gun with
damascus barrles, neat little gun despite its low beginnings.

FWIW --- John
 
We need to see proof marks on the barrel flats to know where it was made. If it has Belgian marks, then it is a Belgian knock off. If it has Birmingham marks, then it is english made. I had a gun marked J. Manton & Co. It had the english proofs. There were more Mantons than the Joseph Manton that everyone refers to when a Manton gun is mentioned. This gun would not be by him as he was long gone by the time this gun was made. He had a brother named John who also made guns. He had sons who also continued making guns so if it has english proofs it was likely made by them. This particular example, and by condition, is not a high value gun.
 
I can't remember if it was James or John Manton, but when he died, his widow took over the running of the plant ( think 1840s and muzzle loaders) with the assistance of the foreman. After several years, the widow sold out to the foreman and the company continued to produce guns under the name of J Manton and Co. I think the company merged with another but basically ceased to be known under the Manton name in the late 1800s. Most or all of the Manton and Co guns that I have seen were economy grade Birmingham guns.

About the only dating I can think of is that choke boring came in about 1875 and guns produced between 1875 and 1885 were stamped on the bottom of the barrels "not for ball". Following that time period choke boring was indicated by a C in a diamond and / or stamps of the breach and muzzle guage such as 13 B 15M

I am guessing that your gun was made in the 1880 - 1890 period

cheers mooncoon
 
I agree that it looks like a Belgium made gun, I have a Neumann Bros. gun that looks very similar to that one, right down to the same style of lettering, trigger guard, etc.
 
the proof marks on the underside of the barrels and on the water table are how you tell the country of origin. Inexpensive Birlmingham guns look just like Belgian guns apart from the proof marks. Cosmetic similarities are meaningless for that purpose

cheers mooncoon
 
OP if you pull the barrels you will see some more markings.

I have the exact same J Manton & Co. shotgun. It has the Belgian egg shaped with a crown, E L G * proof under each chamber.
 
gunsaholic said:
We need to see proof marks on the barrel flats to know where it was made. If it has Belgian marks, then it is a Belgian knock off. If it has Birmingham marks, then it is english made. I had a gun marked J. Manton & Co. It had the english proofs. There were more Mantons than the Joseph Manton that everyone refers to when a Manton gun is mentioned. This gun would not be by him as he was long gone by the time this gun was made. He had a brother named John who also made guns. He had sons who also continued making guns so if it has english proofs it was likely made by them. This particular example, and by condition, is not a high value gun.
Click to expand...

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These are the only marks I can see which would be proof marks...


Yeah I didnt expect this gun to be a high dollar antique... My family were all scottish, so highly unikely that it was one to begin with :) And this gun is in by no means good shape... It was a farm gun, and it was USED...

Thanks to everyone who posted so far! Keep the info coming!
 
Going by Belgian proof charts, the gun is not as old as we think. The 12/c within a diamond was used from 1898 to 1924. The choke markings 17.6/18.4 was used from 1910 to 1924. So the gun is from between 1910 to 1924.
 
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