Firearms — 19th century — 1840s
About this product
About this collection
This collection covers 307 firearms from the 1840s, delivered across 866 images in 42 ZIP assets. The 1840s saw Colt's revolver designs reach practical maturity and gain military adoption, percussion ignition become universal across European armies, and the first practical rifled muskets enter service. The collection spans British, American, and Continental manufacture in a decade of rapid technological change.
Why it matters
The 1840s transformed the infantry soldier's personal firepower — the transition from smooth-bore to rifled muskets roughly tripled effective range, while Colt's revolvers gave cavalry and officers repeating capability for the first time. The Royal Armouries' holdings from this decade include objects from the Mexican-American War, early colonial campaigns, and the beginning of the arms race that culminated in the Crimean conflict.
Use cases & time to value
- Game & film production design: Accurate period reference for 1840s-era weapons in historical games, film, and television
- AI training data: Large labelled firearms dataset for object-recognition, period-classification, and type-identification models
- Military history research: Primary visual source for comparative study of 1840s firearms technology and design evolution
- Publishing & editorial: Ready-to-license imagery for histories, encyclopaedias, and military reference works
- Museum education: Accessible digital collection for academic and public programming on 1840s arms development
Data schema
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| object_number | string | Royal Armouries catalogue number (XII. prefix + sequence) |
| object_name | string | Standardised object type name as catalogued |
| class | string | XII (Firearms) |
| period | string | 1840s |
| image_filename | string | Original filename as catalogued by the museum |
| image_format | string | tif (archival high-res), jpg (catalogue), or bmp (legacy) |
| width_px | integer | Image width in pixels |
| height_px | integer | Image height in pixels |
| file_size_bytes | integer | Uncompressed file size in bytes |
Collection stats
42 assets · 307 objects · 866 images · 1840s
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