|
These are guns I have made for other
customers that can be referred to when looking to have your own gun made.
These trade guns
are typical of English and French imported pieces of the 18th and 19th Century.
These would have been found from Eastern Canada to Georgia, from
the coast to the Mississippi River valley.
The term 'Carolina gun' can be traced
to a Colonial document from Virginia and its use in
records of the British rules of proof. In the
records of wills and estate inventories for York
County, Va. 1732-1740 there is an inventory of a
store run by Thomas Hancock. Included among the
shooting supplies were included "40 Carolina guns"
valued at 22 pounds 10 shillings for the lot. This
converts to about 11 shillings 4 pence each. This
evaluation shows that the guns were relatively cheap
compared to better quality English fowlers of that
period. There is also a reference to "Spotted guns"
in the inventory. No one is certain what these guns
looked like but surviving powder horns with brown
spots may be a clue that these guns also had brown
spots done in a similar fashion.
The
British Proof Act of 1855 still included "Carolina"
guns in the small arms category; "Class 3: Single
barrel birding and fowling pieces....and those known
by the names of Danish, Dutch, Carolina, and
Spanish."
|
