German Vereinsgewehr rifle/musket

junque_yard_dog

We have what appears, from my research, to be a Vereinsgewehr rifle/musket made at the Royal Wurttemberg Gun Factory circa 1857 - 1862. The top of the barrel is marked OBERNDORF and on the lock plate it is marked KONG WURT FABRIK.

I cannot find any reference to one being sold anywhere so I am wondering if someone here might be able to give an approx. value. It is in good condition and looks to be shootable.

Thanks for any info you can give.

Bill & Wanda

rufe-snow

Need quality photos for accurate identification and valuation.

Instructions for posting photos at this link.

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=259294

junque_yard_dog

will post pictures thursday evening

junque_yard_dog

Here are the pictures as promised


The yardstick is a 48" to show the size of this gun.










mark: KONG WURT FABRIK

mark: OBERNDORF



pin pricked into the metal is the name W.A. Jennings. I did some research on this. The National Park Service maintains a database of
Civil War soldiers from both armies. I found reference of 4 soldiers under W.A.Jennings. All served in the confederate army. The person we aquired this from said it was retrieved from a dead confederate soldier and has been in the family ever since.







this is the only number on the entire gun 201


this is the only real damage, some new scuffing on the bottom of the stock

Let me know if you need any more information

navc130

To the best of my limited knowledge, this is a "Contract Musket," produced for whatever country that wanted to buy them. They are not particularly collectable in the U.S., maybe only to someone who wanted a representative example of muskets used in the Civil War.
Value: $100 to $250. It is not broken, is complete and in reasonably good condition.
I paid $50 for one (similar, not identical) two years ago in slightly better condition with a cutoff forestock and no ramrod.

rufe-snow

I have found no record of this model used in the U.S. Civil War, as opposed to the Prussian made Potsdam rifle(s). The Prussian rifles were imported and used by the North in quantity in the early 1860's. Because of this it wouldn't have any interest to a collector of Civil War arms.

A orphan percussion rifle like yours would probably have more value in it's country of origin then here in the U.S. I've never seen or heard of any for sale regionally. Because of this it's hard to assign a value. The best you could hope for is to locate a U.S. collector of European percussion rifles, or hope a European dealer spots it on the auction to sell it in Europe.