Original Item: IMA has discovered some exciting evidence that may link the Sharps type rifles and Carbines to the Confederacy. For years the unmarked Sharps we found in Kathmandu, Nepal have baffled collectors. The possibility of these Sharps type weapons having any connection to the Confederacy has been a pipe dream. Well not anymore.
Clearly these weapons were not manufactured by Sharps and clearly some of the parts were made in Nepal. However, there is no dispute that the actions of these guns have always been of a far higher quality than achievable in Nepal at that time.
In early 2004 we sent samples of Sharps stock wood to The British Engineerium, part of Brighton University. There testing and an examination indicated the wood to be Honduran Mahogany. Honduran Mahogany is not indigenous to South East Asia that infers that the stock wood originated in the Americas.
In 2008 IMA found a Percussion Revolver that had been included in the Royal Nepalese Armory purchase. This pistol was of a totally unknown design, in fact, the revolver had been photographed back in 2003, the negatives sent to England for inclusion, on page 51, in John Walter’s book “Guns of the Gurkhas”. For whatever reason the notes taken with each photograph at the time were misdirected and when laying out the book for publication in England it was assumed the revolver bore…
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