.56 caliber. 9.75" pinned barrel. NSN. Heavily oxidized metal, brass furniture with lobed butt cap, walnut stock. Single shot smoothbore muzzleloading flintlock pistol made without a rear sight, with a small brass blade front sight and with an old wooden ramrod with an iron slotted jag at the end. Flat flintlock with integral rounded, fenced and bridled pan and a faceted double throated cock. Lock marked "J. HENRY" over "PHILA" vertically at the tail and "US" under the pan. Lock appears to be remain in original flint. Endoscopic examination reveals no modifications inside the barrel. An "{Eagle Head}/C" contract firearm proof mark is present on the upper left of the breech and a weak trefoil "V/JS" cartouche is present on the counterpane. The barrel is marked "J.HENRY PHILA" on top.

Joseph Henry was one of the early contract makers of US marital pistols, receiving contracts for 150 pairs in 1807 and 600 pairs in 1808. In addition to these official US military contract arms, he also produced pistols of the same basic design for sale to militias, states the the general public. This is one of those very rear US government contract pistols, with correct markings. Production is believed to be rather limited, and there is no doubt that many of these guns saw hard use during the War of 1812. {ANTIQUE}

Good. Bore dark, dirty, heavily oxidized and pitted. Metal with a thick, untouched and heavily oxidized brown patina with evenly distributed surface roughness and some pitting. Markings in metal mostly clear and legible, weaker in wood. Brass with a dark, uncleaned patina. Lock remains in original flint, with the cock possibly being an old replacement. The top jaw screw and top jaw are likely replacements. Touchhole with moderate erosion, is properly centered, tapered and angled. Wood with moderate wear and showing a couple of tight grain cracks, one emanating from the tail of the entry pipe and one under the lock mortise. Otherwise the wood shows moderately scattered bumps, dings and mars.