Original 1863 Sharps saddle ring carbine

Michael Johnson · Post by **Michael Johnson** » Thu May 19, 2005 8:12 pm

I was at the Puyallup, WA gunshow last Saturday and saw an absolutely gorgeous 1863 in 52 caliber. The whole gun had a sprinkling of brown patina on it. You could clearly see the inspector's cartouche on the stock. I asked to have the zip-tye clipped so I could drop the block. The action was nice and crisp. The bore was excellent. At first I thought it had been relined but could find no evidence thereof. He wanted 3800 bucks for this piece. I confess to not knowing what they bring. If you get the National Geographic magazine, the gun looks exactly like the one pictured on the back of a Civil War map from last months edition. I was very tempted to pull out the credit card. I have seen a few percussion Sharps and this was the best I had ever seen. The Lawrence primer mechanism even appeared functional. What are these guns worth? - Mike

sharps1859 · Post by **sharps1859** » Fri May 27, 2005 5:37 pm

Mike:

That Sharps carbine on the National Geographic sheet was from the NRA/ National Firearms Museum.

Gun looks a lot better in person. They have a lot of Sharps on exhibit now, including one of the Quigley rifles from Tom Selleck.

sharps1859

gmartin · Post by **gmartin** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:41 pm

Micheal,
That sounds a bit steep. I intend to do more research at the gun sites and get back to you. Saw that Beautiful carbone on my NG centerfold as well. Unfortunately it was sad to see the state of our Civil War battle fields depicted on the back side and written of in the article. My Farmingdale '63 Shiloh looks much the same, minus the priming system. Gorgeous guns aren't they?
Gregg

gmartin · Post by **gmartin** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:42 pm

That should be CARBINE, sorry.
Gregg

Michael Johnson · Post by **Michael Johnson** » Mon May 30, 2005 8:34 pm

The price doesn't seem all that bad to me. When you consider what Shiloh gets for a replica and the fact that this rifle appears to be in good enough condition to be a shooter. The originals are only going to go up in price! - Mike

gmartin · Post by **gmartin** » Mon May 30, 2005 8:51 pm

Micheal,
As promised I looked some. GunBroker has an awesome '59 carbine with an opening bid of 100 bucks, "buy now" for $4900.00. Maybe your carbine is a good deal, after all, most were taken in and converted to 50/70, all very good in itself, but not that percussion mystique.
Gregg