Guns International #: 101609625

Category - Antique Rifles - Percussion - Antique Rifles - Single Shot

Category
Antique Rifles - Percussion
Antique Rifles - Single Shot

HUGE PERCUSSION WHALING HARPOON GUN COMPLETE WITH HARPOON

Description:
HUGE PERCUSSION WHALING HARPOON GUN COMPLETE WITH HARPOON. I am fairly familiar with early whaling guns and yet I've never seen one of these, or even heard of one for that matter. This is a very unusual design, probably a unique design. Overall, this gun  weighs 17 1/2 pounds and measures just under 39" from muzzle to butt. The butt stock is wood  with a steel shotgun butt  plate and the rest is iron or steel with no forend. The heavy barrel is a solid octagon for about 10 inches ahead of the stock/receiver. It then turns round  for the remaining 13" with a rectangular cut-out running the length of the barrel on the bottom side. The "cut-out" is just wide enough for the "ring" on the harpoon to fit, which was tied to a rope. the  solid octagon rear of the barrel is just under 2" wide across the flats and certainly made to handle a very large charge of black powder behind the harpoon. The harpoon measures 16" long, is made of iron with a three sided  integral point or tip. It has a single toggle barb made to swivel out to anchor the prey and not pull out. The ring is attached to the harpoon shaft by an iron staple. The left upper flat of the octagon barrel is marked "D. CHABOT. ST CHARLES C. B.  1871"  I could not find this name in any books, but an online search turned up the following under "list of Canadian Patents from the beginning of Patent Office, June, 1824 to the 31st of August 1872"  The listing simply stated "Chabot, St. Charles, Que., 'Harpoon Gun' 7 July 1871."   Judging from the size of the harpoon and the fact that it came from a Canadian maker/patent holder leads me to believe that set up with this projectile it may have been made for the walrus and seal trade. With a longer  harpoon it would have been more effective on whales, but even as is, it would get the job done.  No doubt, other harpoon lengths were available for this gun. The barrel has a simple shotgun bead front sight and the metal is an even dark patina showing some even scattered salt & pepper pitting from salt water. The percussion lock is unmarked and works fine. The butt stock is very dark, uncleaned patina that almost looks like it was around a lot of soot and smoke- typical of blubber rendering on ships. There is a piece of wood that broke out above the lock plate that was replaced with the original wood by two screws- very typical as these guns saw hard use and were often dropped from the heavy recoil. Often cords were tied to trigger guards to keep them from going overboard when fired. Remarkable that the harpoon made specifically for this gun is with it. Comes with a nicely made wood display stand holding the gun  forged iron hooks to hold the harpoon separately with a metal  display plate professionally made that reads "19TH CENTURY HARPOON GUN CANADIAN PATENT ISSUED TO ST. CHARLES CHABOT ON JULY 7, 1871" which leads me to believe this may have been displayed in a museum at one time.  All percussion harpoon guns are scarce and rarely come up for sale. This is an amazing set of a very unusual identified and patented harpoon gun with special harpoon made for this model only!

SOLD

Antique: Yes
Manufacturer: D. Chabot
Model: HARPOON GUN
Barrel Length: 23
Condition: VG