The concept of a "market gun" is foreign to today's hunter, but it would have been a fairly common sight to sportsmen of the mid 19th Century; especially those who lived near major metropolitan areas.
Nineteenth Century America was quite wild; especially in comparison to Europe - a continent that had been densely populated for hundreds of years before America was even discovered. As a result, wild game was plentiful in America; even in the East where large cities had been established. The abundance of game meant that the concept of raising game animals like ducks, geese, pheasants, etc for meat would have been quite absurd to most Americans; as game birds were everywhere. Why raise what can be harvested wildly?
Traditionally, the harvesting of wild game animals was done by subsistence hunters - farmers and settlers who hunted to simply survive, but with many moving away from agrarian life and into major metropolitan areas like New York and Philadelphia, the need for fresh game increased as restaurants became a vital part of the modern urban lifestyle. This need for a consistent supply of fresh meat led to the development of the "market hunter" - professional sportsmen who hunted wild game to be brought into cities and sold to restaurants and butcher shops. Like most businessmen, market hunters realized that to maximize their profits, they would need to be able to harvest as much game with as little time and effort as possible. One of the ways they accomplished this was through the use of "market guns". The market gun is basically a large caliber shotgun. These guns range in size from 10 gauge shotguns all the way up to absurdly large "punt gun" - a giant piece of field artillery that was so long and heavy, it had to be lashed to the gunwales of a duck boat when fired to manage recoil.
Regardless of their size, the purpose of the market gun was simple: shoot as many birds as possible with a single blast and maximize the amount of meat to bring to market.
Market hunting is a uniquely 19th Century concept - with the need for meat increasing as cities expanded; and without daily bag limits and modern hunting seasons to allow wildlife populations to recover, the wild game population was all but decimated in the areas surrounding large cities and market hunters soon found themselves traveling further and further from their buyers in search of meat to harvest and sell.
The industrial revolution ended market hunting for good once modern farming practices allowed butcher shops and restauranteurs to access meat at prices that the market hunters couldn't compete with. This shortlived period of history has made the market gun extremely rare with a growing market of enthusiasts looking collecting large bore "game getters".
This massive 8 gauge shotgun measures a full 55" overall. It was made in England as evidenced by the Birmingham proof marks on the underside of each of its barrels. England was the epicenter of quality shotguns during the 19th Century, and it's easy to see why when looking at this shotgun. Unlike many large bore shotguns that are basically 12 gauge guns grafted onto a set of giant barrels, the builders of this piece chose to scale all the components up; proportionate to the larger barrels. the lock plates measure a full 5.5" inches and the hammers are nearly 3" tall. Even the trigger bow has been made larger than normal - simply for aesthetics. This give the gun a very balanced look and feel.
The gun was very well cared for and appears to be in very fireable condition. The English walnut stock is in great shape with no cracks or major chips missing. The wrist features beautifully crisp checkering.
Both locks feature light "English style" scroll engraving and some traces of of color case hardening on the hammers. Both hammers locks up solid on both full and half cock. The original rosewood ram rod is full length and features the original worm on the end.
Both nipples are in great shape with good square shoulders which should be easy to remove for cleaning. The barrels measure roughly 35". They are full length with no evidence of having ever been shortened; as indicated by the original ramrod head retaining block found at the very end of the bottom rib. "Imported by W&R Barr" is engraved on the top rib and the original tiger stripe twist pattern is still very visible on both barrels. The bores are good - shiny with some light frosting near the muzzle.
