Revolutionary War Musket

Appraised on: June 9, 2012

Appraised in: Boston, Massachusetts

Appraised by: Christopher Mitchell

Category: Arms & Militaria

Episode Info: Boston (#1705)

Originally Aired: February 4, 2013

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Appraisal Video: (1:34)

GUEST: This musket has been over our family's fireplace for as long as I can remember. I was told it was the musket that was owned by a relative from Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and he led Washington across the Delaware Christmas of 1776.

APPRAISER: What's really important about this gun, there's two things. One, if we look right here, we're going to see where it says "New Jersey." And this musket was bought from Wilson of London by the state under contract, and it would have been bought somewhere around 1770. And then if we look up here, we're going to see this little set of unusual numbers, and those are rack numbers. So when the musket is just issued out, it's issued to you by name, and then when it's returned, it goes in by that rack number. But what's really interesting about this, because this musket's not going to be returned because at this point we're in the American Revolution, he has gone and put his initials on it.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Those are both features that we want when we're thinking about a gun from the American Revolution. There is some damage up here to the lock, it's kind of exposed, but all this could be sorted out. State-marked guns that we know are used during the American Revolution are actually quite rare. If this gun was complete and intact, with the history that goes along with it, it would probably be worth somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000. But because it is so rare, even in this condition, this gun would sell for around $15,000 to $18,000.

GUEST: Wow. I think it'll go back over our fireplace.