Brown Bess, no provenance

Your thoughts on the age of the age of this piece gents, attributed to the 5th Foot, with a Dublin Castle lock. his piece gents.

I’m far from a Bess expert. But something seems off about that musket….

Hi,
It is a total fake using Pedersoli parts and the wrong trigger guard.

dave

That’s about the worst fake I have seen. Maybe done as a “ defarb” for a reenactor?

Hmmm, Fake ok, thanks.

hampdenhousealnwick@gmail said:

Your thoughts on the age of the age of this piece gents, attributed to the 5th Foot, with a Dublin Castle lock.View attachment 297677View attachment 297678View attachment 297679View attachment 297680View attachment 297681View attachment 297682View attachment 297683View attachment 297684View attachment 297685View attachment 297686his piece gents.

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Fake

OK explain why.

Place your gun next to a REAL brown bess. Or compare pictures. The difference is obvious, now that I look at it.

hampdenhousealnwick@gmail said:

OK explain why.

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Read what dave_person knows about Besses and you'll know the details, but he actually told you everything you *need* to know here.

Let me guess….. you paid a bunch of $$ for this….or are about to.

The wood is wrong, there are far too many small dents/dings everywhere and the screw slots are not damaged or show signs of use. Am I right, the butt plate tang is too short?

looks restocked maybe ? inletting seems way off unless D.C. built guns were not up to standards. but i would still think the inletting would be better. engraving is way off also compared to others i have seen. we need mr. Person on this. [ sorry wrote this before Dave responded but forgot to post it]

It doesn't look like a defarb for a reenactor, it looks like the worst job at trying to make an antique to make a buck on someone who has no knowledge of originals. Terrible that it happens, but it happens.

Sam squanch said:

I’m far from a Bess expert. But something seems off about that musket….

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I agree with most of the comments; it looks like a beautifully-done aging project. The butt plate engraving would not be that crude, and outside of the nice aging job, it looks just like my 1st re-enactment musket from 1975. I'd love to have one just like it to shoot and hang up in the "arms room" at home! Good job, commentators!

I’ve been taken once years ago. Never buy antique guns in a parking lot at night with bad lighting!

hampdenhousealnwick@gmail said:

Your thoughts on the age of the age of this piece gents, attributed to the 5th Foot, with a Dublin Castle lock.View attachment 297677View attachment 297678View attachment 297679View attachment 297680View attachment 297681View attachment 297682View attachment 297683View attachment 297684View attachment 297685View attachment 297686his piece gents.

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Looks like a pedersoli bess on chemotherapy or maybe it was recovered at Chernobyl.

The screw slots are too perfect and the proof marks are terrible. Other than that it would be a buy at a couple hundred bucks.

Dunno, but regardless, it's still absolute COOL!!

Fakery is prevalent in any collectable scene. It's good for the novice to learn some of the blatant points that are incorrect. In many cases, the experts don't like to (and I believe they shouldn't) divulge all their reasons for determining that something is not as it is claimed to be. The more info that is available to these "fakers" the better they become at their craft.
The original owner may not have had bad intentions but as ownership changes, information about the object becomes diluted or intentionally misrepresented.

springfield art said:

I agree with most of the comments; it looks like a beautifully-done aging project. The butt plate engraving would not be that crude, and outside of the nice aging job, it looks just like my 1st re-enactment musket from 1975. I'd love to have one just like it to shoot and hang up in the "arms room" at home! Good job, commentators!

Click to expand...

springfield art said:

I agree with most of the comments; it looks like a beautifully-done aging project. The butt plate engraving would not be that crude, and outside of the nice aging job, it looks just like my 1st re-enactment musket from 1975. I'd love to have one just like it to shoot and hang up in the "arms room" at home! Good job, commentators!

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Not arguing the main point. But the engraving being crude...maybe. thought it was relevant. Not all were nicely engraved.