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WILLIAM CHANCE & SONS NORTHWEST TRADE GUN LOCK –
MADE FOR THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 1830’s – 1840’s – VERY
RARE COMPLETE LOCK IN EXCELLENT CONDITION – COMPLETE AND
MECHANICALLY SOUND:
This is a complete lock
manufactured by the William Chance & Sons firm for the
Northwest Trade Guns he supplied to the American Fur
Company beginning in the early 1830’s. The lock plate
retains the fully legible maker’s name and the fully
legible “Tombstone Fox” viewers stamp with the American
Fur Company mark, “IA”.
The American Fur Company was created in 1808 when the
State of New York granted a charter to John Jacob Astor,
a very prosperous young German immigrant. With the
outcome of the War of 1812 and the expulsion from United
States territory the British traders who had been
operating south of the border with Canada, the American
Fur Company grew rapidly and began to absorb many of the
smaller trading concerns. While American gun makers
were fully capable of manufacturing the classic
Northwest Trade Gun, readily identifiable by the serpent
side plate, the Indians to whom the guns were marketed
had a decided preference for British-made guns because
of their past experience with those guns during the
years the British companies dominated the North American
trade.
As a close friend who was a successful trader on Wall
Street once advised me, “when the ducks quack, feed ‘em”.
Astor was a wise business man and recognizing the market
demand, he established strong relationships with the
British gun makers. From surviving American Fur Company
records in the New York Historical Society, it is known
that the Astor regularly ordered Northwest Trade Guns
from British makers - among others, specifically the
firm W. Chance & Son, of Birmingham.
The Northwest Trade Guns made for the American Fur
Company incorporated the same style “viewers mark” or
inspector’s stamp in the center of the lock plate as
were used on the guns made for the British Hudson Bay
Company – that of a small rectangular recess rounded at
the top like a tombstone of the period which contained a
seated fox facing left. The only appreciable difference
between the HBC viewers mark and the mark applied to the
AFC guns were the initials below the fox. The HBC
viewers stamp included “EB” for Edward Bond, viewer for
the HBC, and the AFC viewers stamp included the initials
seen on this lock, “IA” for Jacob Astor. In terms of
survival rates, guns identified to the American Fur
Company seem to have survived in far fewer numbers than
those identified to the Hudson Bay Company, hence making
the American Fur Company guns more difficult to find and
more desirable.
As a historical aside, “J’s” were commonly
represented by an “I” simply because the lower hook of
the “J” was difficult to fashion into the stamp and the
fragile bend of the hook likely did not survive repeated
strikes. The simple straight line of the “I” was more
durable and was accepted as representing a “J” in the
common usage. (As an example, the US Army omitted “J”
from the company designations within a regiment, instead
extending the lettering of companies to include “M” as
the replacement.)
This lock is in excellent condition - complete, fully
functional, with a very crisp action. The lock plate,
hammer, and frizzen are overall smooth with no pitting.
There is some pitting to the internal surfaces, but
nothing which affects the integrity or function of the
lock.
It is possible this lock is a survivor from a trading
post supply of extra locks, provided so that the local
traders could repair or replace broken locks on the guns
the Indians brought in. There is some evidence on the
face of the frizzen that this lock was used, so it also
possible that this lock was installed on a trade gun
that saw use and it was replaced with a percussion lock
when that technology became available on the frontier.
Trade gun locks are rarely found on the loose, so
whatever the circumstances were that resulted in this
lock being found separate from a full trade gun, that it
has survived in the condition that it has is truly
remarkable.
This is an excellent replacement lock to complete your
trade gun, or as an early Fur Trade relic to display in
its own right, and this is very rare opportunity to
acquire a major component for a Northwest Trade Gun.
SOLD
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