Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: I got this from my father.

I'm guessing that maybe it might have been used for hunting, you know, after it was used, probably militarily.

APPRAISER: It's an Austrian Model 1854 Lorenz rifle musket.

This was the third most used infantry longarm during the American Civil War.

The Union side imported at least a quarter million of these.

The Confederate side imported at least 100,000 of these.

And after the Springfield and the Enfield, this was the third most used gun of the war.

But after the Civil War, these muzzleloading guns were so obsolete-- guns that the U.S. government had paid $20, $25, $30 for-- they were selling a surplus for a dollar or less.

GUEST: Wow.

APPRAISER: And then resellers would bore them out, turn 'em into the world's cheapest shotguns and sell 'em to people, particularly settlers going west.

I think a realistic number for this gun at auction is in the $300 to $500 range.

Uh, were it all original--correct sight, correct hammer, original ramrod-- GUEST: Mm-hmm.... APPRAISER: It would be more in the $800 to $1,200 range.

GUEST: Okay.