RARE 1 of 220 SHARPS Model 1853 “SLANT BREECH” Percussion SHOTGUN 26 Bore Early American Breechloading Shotgun

Product Description

RARE 1 of 220 SHARPS Model 1853 “SLANT BREECH” Percussion SHOTGUN 26 Bore

Early American Breechloading Shotgun

Here we present an antique Sharps Model 1853 Slant Breech Percussion Shotgun, manufactured in Hartford, Connecticut. This is one of approximately 220 Sharps Model 1853 shotguns manufactured circa 1856. According to Sharps Firearms: The Percussion Era Volume I by Morcot, Paxton, and Marron (page 263) only one example is known of this model that had a smooth wood forend without nose cap like this one (they do not give the serial number for this one but it very well may have been this piece). These were all in 26 bore or .577 caliber and they varied from plain to very fancy in their finishes. The above authors acknowledge that Frank Sellers’ earlier published book estimated that there were 320 of these shotguns produced but that with records in hand they believe there were only 220 produced.

This is an extremely scarce “shotgun” example of a pre-Civil War Era Sharps Model 1853, which is the same action as the Saddle Ring Carbine, usually referred to as the “Slant Breech”, to differentiate it from the later vertical breech design. The serial number on this example (12550) is right in the middle of the known serial number range of the “Beecher’s Bibles” slant breech, giving it an indirect link to Reverend Henry Beecher. This in turn could also indirectly link it to Abolitionist John Browne, who led the ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry Arsenal in 1859.

The Model 1853 “Beecher’s Bible’s” carbine represented one particular conflict or movement, that conflict would be “Bleeding Kansas” and the movement the Abolitionists. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed the two territories to decide the issue of slavery by a popular vote. It is estimated that over 1,200 Sharps Model 1853 Carbines were carried or smuggled into Kansas by “Free Staters”, those who violently opposed slavery, with John Brown being the most famous. Many of these Free Staters emigrated to Kansas from elsewhere in the US, mostly from the East, in order to tip the political scales toward their cause, both by voting and by threatening or killing their political opposition. Protestant Emigrant Aid Societies and famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher raised funds to purchase Sharps carbines to be sent to Kansas to aid the cause. A portion of these have come to be known as “Beecher’s Bibles” as they were shipped in crates marked “BOOKS” along with Bibles in order to evade authorities who were trying to stop the escalation of violence in Kansas and Missouri. In a famous quote, Beecher declared that he “believed that the Sharps Rifle was a truly moral agency, and that there was more moral power in one of those instruments, so far as the slaveholders of Kansas were concerned, than in a hundred Bibles. You might just as well read the Bible to Buffaloes as to those fellows who follow Atchison and Stringfellow; but they have a supreme respect for the logic that is embodied in Sharp’s rifle.” On the other side of the conflict were the “Border Ruffians”, the pro-slavery element who saw that the “moral agency” of the Sharps could be theirs too! There is record of at least 300 going to a St. Louis dealer in an order for the Border Ruffians.

In 1856, after abolitionists were attacked in Lawrence, Kansas, John Brown led a raid on scattered cabins along the Pottawatomie Creek, killing five people. John Brown had another plan to bring about an end to slavery, a slave uprising. Brown contracted with Charles Blair, a forge master in Connecticut, to make 950 pikes, or spears, for $1 each. Brown would issue the pike to the slaves as they revolted. On October 16, 1859, Brown led his group to Harpers Ferry where he took over the arsenal and waited for the slaves to revolt. The revolt never happened. Two days later, Robert E. Lee and his troops overran the raiders and captured John Brown. Brown was found guilty of murder, treason, and of inciting slave insurrection. On December 2, 1859, he was hanged.

The overall condition is good. Even patina throughout. The action is strong. Nipple a bit peened. The breech lever key arm is chipped. The bore is dark and pitted. The forestock has a crack along the length on the underside and an old chip; the butt stock has an old chip at the toe; otherwise solid. This one looks like it was a well-used Frontier working gun. Nevertheless, a true rarity from Sharps from Antebellum America!

Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.

Barrel is 26 inches.

Caliber: 26 Bore

Overall condition as seen in photos.

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$4500
#247608