Metallurgical Investigation of the Manufacturing Origin of Antique Sharps-style Rifles from the Nepalese Armory
In the early 2000s, International Military Antiques (IMA) and Atlanta Cutlery purchased 470 tons of arms from the Nepalese government and exported them to the United States. These arms were being stored in a former palace in Katmandu, Nepal that had been converted into an armory. The stockpile included a wide array of edged weapons and firearms. Among the firearms were about 350 Sharps-style model 1853 rifles and carbines. Due to the unclear manufacturing history of these firearms, it has been suggested that they could have been manufactured pre-Civil War in the United States, the Confederacy, or assembled from surplus unmarked Sharps parts. A metallurgical study of parts donated by IMA along with authentic Sharps samples was conducted to shed light on the possible manufacturing origin of the Nepalese Sharps-style firearms. If the analyses showed the Nepalese Sharps-style firearms to be consistent with manufacture in North America, this would have significant historical value to show the trade of arms from the United States to Nepal that was not previously known. It would also make the Sharps-style firearms from the Nepalese armory considerably more valuable to collectors.
We performed metallurgical investigations including metallography with optical microscopy, compositional analysis using optical emission spectroscopy and melt extraction, and microhardness testing to compare the Nepalese samples with genuine US produced Sharps samples. Results indicated that the samples from Nepal were produced in Nepal, and likely had no ties to US manufacture. We present our results here.
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