Tell me about this trap...

Was at a local logger's shop and saw this trap hanging on wall...He wasn't sure what it was & didn't want to sell it.

What is this trap and what is the value?

There is a few examples of traps very simular to this in gerstell book. It’s listed there as a handforged fox trap and I believe it was from pa also. Looks almost identical to your trap. Curiously the trap appears to be missing a trigger on the trap. I don’t even see where one hooked into the body of the trap. There might have been a detachable pan assembly that has been lost.

I would date the trap to sometime in the 1800s probably the early half of that century.

Value is pretty subjective. If it is indeed missing parts that hurts it,making it worth 30-75$ yet if a local historian takes a shine to it especially if he think he knows who made it,
it could be worth a few hundred.

You should look it over for makers marks or strange symbols in the form of moons, stars, cartouches and such. I see it has a trap tag on it, you should see a name there that guy once would have owned it. Maybe you can find something out about him.

I see the pan now right beside it that’s good makes it worth more for sure. Is it broken off? Or just detachable?

From what I've read, traps like this from the 18th century usually had a steel or wooden bar underneath the pan attached to devices on the circular frame to hold open the jaws and the pan placed on top of the bar. A shallow depression was excavated under the trap and when the animal stepped on the pan it would release the bar and spring the trap. I don't see anything to attach a bar to hold open the jaws on this trap. The design came from early Russian and French designs and were adopted by early American blacksmiths.

Pan is detachable, wood bottom, light steel top.
2nd pic of Pan- there are two steel hooks on the underside (you can barely see in pic).
The logger set the trap for me and didn't watch close how he set pan, but it was set so I would say pan is in tact, and trap workable.
He or I didn't recognize the the last name on tag, but town is very local, in western Union County, Pa.. So I'm still asking around.

I did look it over. Found no maker mark.

Thank you folks for the information.
I'll update this fine, If I get any more info.
Thanks again.
Hern