Korean Matchlock Musket, ca. 1800

Appraised on: August 21, 2010

Appraised in: Washington, District of Columbia

Appraised by: James Callahan

Category: Asian Arts

Episode Info: Washington, Hour 3 (#1518)

Originally Aired: June 27, 2011

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (1:50)

GUEST: My grandparents were missionaries in Korea from 1890 to 1908.

APPRAISER: Wow.

GUEST: And, uh, this is something that my grandfather purchased ostensibly from a Korean tiger hunter.

APPRAISER: This is just before the fall of the dynasty, around 1911...

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: When the Japanese occupied the country, which was a very, very sensitive time for the Korean people...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Because they were under enormous pressure from the Japanese...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And were looking for any kind of foreign help to help them out of the situation they were involved in.

GUEST: I see.

APPRAISER: And things like this were coming up on the market at the time, but it's an exceptional rarity. I've only seen guns like this in books.

GUEST: Really?

APPRAISER: I've never actually seen one in person.

GUEST: Interesting.

APPRAISER: And it is a matchlock.

GUEST: Is it?

APPRAISER: Yeah. And it used to have, up here, a cord that would have been soaked in saltpeter...

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: And then lit on fire.

GUEST: Oh, interesting.

APPRAISER: Hardwood stock, handmade barrel, very, very early form of gun.

GUEST: Is that right?

APPRAISER: And the Koreans just kept this model basically because it worked.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And in terms of it coming from a tiger hunter, highly probable.

GUEST: Is that right?

APPRAISER: Highly probable.

GUEST: Interesting.

APPRAISER: You're not going to be picking off sparrows with something like this. This gun is probably 19th century, even 18th century.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: I would say, conservatively, at auction, the estimate would be, like, $3,000 to $5,000 on this gun.

GUEST: Is that right?

APPRAISER: The Korean market has a tendency to fluctuate wildly. This is the kind of thing, in the end, I wouldn't be surprised if retail on a gun like this was $10,000 or $15,000.

GUEST: Really? Well, thank you. I've wondered for years what kind of gun it was, and uh, when it might have been made.