Ezra Taylor's New England Fowler and Carved Powder Flask,

Ezra Taylor's New England Fowler and Carved Powder Flask, c. 1750. 61 1/2 in., .80 caliber, octagon to round barrel with double ring transition 26 in. from the breech, and brass blade front sight; Liege-made French-style lock marked 'JAQUE VALET/A LIEGE'; maple stock without embellishments, brass furniture including a trigger guard with ball finial, sheet brass butt plate with arrow over dual orbs, oval thumb piece engraved 'ET,' iron 'S' side plate, four sheet brass rammer pipes and a sheet brass entry pipe; later wood rammer; the flask carved 'EZRA TAYLOR 1756' and decorated with carved geometric figures and roundels. Overall lg. 77 1/4 in. Condition: Barrel and lock toned to deep brown; stock has sliver losses along the barrel channel, a short section of wood restoration on the right side near the muzzle, and a small patch of wood restoration at the rear and top of the lock mortice; brass toned to yellow. Footnotes: Provenance The Greene Collection, Butterfield & Butterfield. Literature Illustrated and described in Tom Grinslade, Flintlock Fowlers The First Guns Made in America, American Fowling Pieces from 1700-1820, (Pottsboro, Texas: Crazy Crow Trading Post, 2005), p. 35. Note Grinslade notes that Ezra Taylor was a British Army officer who served on the 1754 expedition to construct Fort Halifax on the Kennebec River in today's Winslow, Maine, and that this fowler accompanied Taylor on the expedition. The gun descended in the Taylor family for many generations. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing