Commercial "Long Land Pattern" Musket

Dateca.1745

Maker Robert Watkin

MediumWalnut, iron, steel and brass

DimensionsOA: 62 3/4" Barrel: 46 1/4" x .78 caliber

Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. John R. Muckel of Indiana Plumbing Supply.

Object number1986-191

DescriptionClassic musket of "Pattern 1742" form but without Board of Ordnance markings and the usual double-line engraving on the lock components.
Label TextMuskets made for the Board of Ordnance were Crown property, and were not available for sale. As there was still a demand for muskets by local governments and other customers scattered throughout the British Empire, enterprising gunsmiths stepped in to fill the need. They copied the current "Brown Bess," but without Royal markings, and offered them in varying degrees of quality; you could get whatever you wanted to pay for.

When the Executive Council ordered 500 sets of muskets, bayonets, and cartridge boxes for the use of the Virginia forces in late 1750, there is little doubt that the colony acquired firearms similar to this example. Ordered to be marked VIRGINIA 1750, the purchase is known today by a lone surviving musket barrel, now mounted on an early 19th century hunting gun. Essentially identical to the barrel in this Watkin musket, the Virginia-1750 barrel is marked by a different Birmingham maker.
InscribedLock engraved "R" over "WATKIN." Breech of barrel engraved "No.11."
MarkingsBarrel breech struck with Crowned Proof and View marks in addition to the Crowned RW mark of the maker.
ProvenanceThought to be one of the muskets purchased by York to help defend the city against "Bonnie Prince Charlie" during the 1745 Jacobite Uprising.