South Carolina Surcharged Dutch Musket, ca. 1740
GUEST: My great-grandfather purchased it at a flea market for one dollar in South Paris, Maine in the 1920s.
APPRAISER: Well, what you have here is a Dutch musket. The original variant of these guns had iron furniture. This has a brass butt plate and trigger guard. So it's a little bit later. But the Dutch were making these certainly by about 1730. Which probably dates its production to circa 1735 to 1745. The Netherlands was one of the largest sources of firearms during that period, really on until the advent of the Birmingham gun trade in the mid-19th century in England. The Dutch guns of this period are often thought to be copies of British Brown Bess-type muskets. But the reality is, is the Dutch were using these patterns actually a little bit earlier than the British. And in many ways, their design sort of influenced what becomes known as the Brown Bess musket circa 1730 when they officially adopt a pattern for the Long Land Pattern musket for the British military. The best part about this gun, other than that it's completely untouched, hasn't had anything done to it, and remains an original flint, is the marking on top of the barrel that says "S. Carolina." South Carolina starts off as a British colony. The colonies were important to the British, but they weren't necessarily worth spending a lot of money on in terms of their defense. So as early as 1731, the British government started buying used Dutch muskets to arm the colonials. The gun almost certainly came here from a British purchase. Probably around the time of the, uh, Seven Years' War, better known as the French and Indian War here. One of the ways we know that the gun was actually purchased out of a Dutch arsenal is that on the barrel at the end, there is a rack number that was the Dutch arsenal rack number for the gun. Dutch musket, unmarked, just original flintlock Dutch musket in kind of attic condition. The gun would probably sell somewhere in the range of $3,000 to $5,000, maybe a little bit more.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: But it gets a whole lot better because of that mark. I think a conservative auction estimate for this gun is between $20,000 and $30,000.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness, I was not expecting that whatsoever.
APPRAISER: I would probably insure it in the range of $30,000 to $35,000. It's an incredibly difficult gun to replace. There are only a handful of known examples, and this is the best marked one I have seen.
GUEST: Wow, really?
APPRAISER: It's just everything that makes my heart go aflutter when I see a, just a, a wonderful piece of history like this.
$20,000 Auction
$35,000 Insurance
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Understanding Our Appraisals
Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.
Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.
Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.
Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.
Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.
