Jacobus "Cobe" Scout Bucks County

[jdm]

 Does anyone know of a signed gun by this maker? All I have been able to find is an attribution based on the initials J.S. I have found three different guns by the same maker but none signed other than the one with the J.S.
Cobe was a very interesting guy and I was hoping to pin him down.  Thanks   JIM

[jlynn]

read somewhere it is a john shuler--nothing definite on scout  think i read it here  not trying to discredit thanks for reading . ps. it sure has a shuler profile!

[Brookville]

I think that "attribution" was created by Henry Kuffman in his "The Pennsylvania-Kentucky Rifle" book from around 1960.  There has been a lot of research into the Bucks County "school" since then, and there is no evidence of anyone named Jacobus Scout who was a gunsmith.  The "J S" guns were made by John Shuler, Sr. who worked in Milford Township, Bucks County in the early 1800s before moving with his family to Perry County, PA around 1810.  There's one in the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA and several others in collections.  He usually initialed the (side opening) patchbox lid, but also initialed some lock plates and barrels.  I am aware of only one rifle where John signed his full name.  It is in the collection at Ft. Ticonderoga.

[Stophel]

I always thought the "Cobe" Scout story was SO incredibly corny (like a 40's western) that there was no way it could possibly be real.   

[jdm]

[quote
I always thought the "Cobe" Scout story was SO incredibly corny (like a 40's western) that there was no way it could possibly be real.

That's what makes it so cool.
I looked up John Fitch  and Cobe Scout in the history of Bucks county. It says Cobe was a gunsmith and John Fritch was a friend of his. Apparently John Fitch used Scouts  shop to work on some of his inventions.  I don't know how much of his story is true and how much is here say . Whiskers and Kauffman both have him listed as a gunsmith also.