Rare Oldenberg Model 1849 Rifle Musket (AL4146)

Rare Oldenberg Model 1849 Rifle Musket. Upper tang is marked in script “Crause Im Herzberg” manufactured by Carl Philip Crause of Herzberg, Kingdom of Hanover for member states of the Hanseatic League. These were known as a “Cyclops” due to the hole in the center hammer which one looks through to line up the front sight (no rear barrel sight). No documentation is available on this rare gun but one is pictured in the book "Firearms from Europe" by Whisker Hartzler and Larry Yantz. Gun has the initials TMC on the right side of the buttstock. The butt plate tang and trigger guard are marked 2B, 1 2C, and 1 (2nd Batn 2nd Company, gun No.1??). In the above book reference the authors note: “It is probably the rarest of guns with an American Civil War Connection.” Two recent books printed in Germany on German Arms failed to illustrate it. Note: The standard catalogue of Firearms notes that a few hundred of these were imported for the Civil War.