Updated: 03.19.2025
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Forward date Bridesburgs are a bit of an anomaly. The Springfield pattern called for the date to be at the rear of the lock. For some reason, and we may never know why, Alfred Jenks & Son at Bridesburg Manufacturing Company, decided to put theirs at the front of the lock under the stamped Bridesburg. Typically a U.S. inspector would condemn any part meeting exactly the official government mold and the offending part would be stamped with a “C” for condemned..
The U.S. was in dire needs of weapons at the start of the Civil War. It would seem logical they would look the other way for a misplaced date if the rest of the part met the standards. On my three lock plates with a forward date, none have a “C” on them. However, two have an “O” stamped prominently on the face of the lock. There has been a lot of discussion about what this “O” really means. My theorys of the O is in the “O on Lock” section of this site
During my research I have found that only 1861 and 1862 dated Bridesburgs have dates on the forward part of the lock under the stamped Bridesburg. All 1861 dated are in this position amd some dated 1862 are in that same position. Since 1862 dated Bridesburgs are found with lock dates in both positions that tells me the transition happened sometime during the run of 1862 dated locks. All 1863 dates are in the standard tail of the lock. It should be noted the only other lock plates with forward dates were the New York stamped muskets. Every New York stamped musket has a forward date. Guess who supplied the locks for Saron & Roberts who made the New York , you guessed it, Bridesburg.
Out of 84 Needhams in my database where the lock date placement is determined:
74 have the date in the correct placement at the tail of the lock
7 have a forward date.
So it can be seen a forward date is quite rare. I have 3 forward date locks in my collection. Two are on complete Needhams and one is just a lock plate.
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