Beschreibung:

17.2mm caliber. 39" wedge retained octagon to round barrel. SN: 658. Bright finish, brass and iron furniture, walnut stock with raised cheek piece. Single shot percussion muzzleloading infantry rifled musket. The tang of the musket is clearly engraved in script: Craufe in Herzberg, with the “s” in Crause executed as the archaic “f”. The gun is serial number 658, and the complete number is found both on the top of the breech and on the trigger plate tang. The balance of the parts are marked with the last two numbers, 58. These numbers are found on the rear of the breech face, on the rear of the upper tang, on the left side of the hammer neck, on the top of the buttplate, on the triggerguard, on both ramrod pipes and on the heads of all of the screws. A small {Crown} / R proof mark is present on the left of the breech, and several small R inspection marks are found on the gun; on the upper tang, on the trigger plate tang, on the buttplate and on the obverse butt. The breech is additionally inspected with a BR mark and a small H mark is present on the rear of the breech face and on the face of the hammer neck. A crowned Oldenburg ownership or inspection cartouche is present on the obverse butt as well. All of the marks remain quite clear and legible with the exception of the stock cartouche, which is a little weak. Retains both sling swivels. Includes a museum grade, modern made reproduction steel ramrod of the correct pattern. Bayonet lug missing from under the barrel. A very fine and extremely rare example of one of the least often encountered import arms of the American Civil War. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg was one of the mid-sized Germanic states in the mid-19th century. Of the thirty-nine members of the German Confederation, most sources rank Oldenburg tenth in size. While larger than many of the other members, some of which were little more than glorified City-States, the small territory of Oldenburg appears like little more than a tiny subsection of the much larger Kingdom of Hanover that surrounds it on period maps. The Duchy was located in the northwest corner of the German Confederacy, on the North Sea, and had been a major part of the old Hanseatic League. With the rise of the German Confederation (1815-1866), Oldenburg in association with the Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Lubeck and Hamburg formed the Hanseatic Brigade and served in the 10th Corps of the German Confederation'ss army. Oldenburg had adopted a revolutionary oval bore percussion musket in 1839, initially rifled with two grooves and later four grooves. These guns were conventional side lock percussion rifle muskets with nominally .68 caliber bores (17.2mm) that fired either a patched .66 caliber (16.8mm) ball for accurate fire or a quicker loading .65 caliber (16.4mm) ball for more rapid, sustained volley fire. In 1843, Oldenburg adopted a new pattern of percussion muzzleloading long arms, known as the "Mittelschlossgewehr" (Center Lock Rifle) and which has been given the nickname "Cyclops" by American collectors. The guns used an unconventional, internal lock mechanism with no external lock plate and a centrally mounted hammer. For collectors of Civil War arms, the design somewhat resembles the Reed & Watson muzzleloading alterations done by the Confederacy to Hall Rifles. As the hammer was centrally mounted and obscured the front sight, a sighting "window" was cut into the hammer between the spur and the nose that allowed the shooter to align this notch with the front sight, when the hammer was cocked. This unique sighting feature provided the source for the gun's nickname as the "Cyclops". The design was the brain child of Lt. von Weltzien of Oldenburg, who championed the theory that a straight, central line of ignition directly from the breech was the most efficient method of getting reliable detonation of the powder charge. The gun was adopted in 1845 in two models, a Non-Commissioned Officer's Rifle and a longer Infantry Rifle Musket. References in E