AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: Dave B on February 19, 2012, 09:43:47 PM
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Has any one seen this rifle before and know who the maker is? I want to say it looks like a Lancaster piece to me.
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have not seen it, really like it. 1790's?
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Would agree the stock architecture and buttplate look Lancaster, but otherwise an odd mix of characteristics. What do you make of the carving? The design is very late, but well executed in relief. Never seen a patchbox like that. Love the curly walnut stock. The wood, aside from the wallowed out pin holes, is in fantastic shape. Then you have the late period, low quality flintlock! If the caption didn't say antique, I would have thought contemporary with artificial aging using an old lock.
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Are we sure this IS an "antique" rifle--or a rifle made to look antique (maybe "antiqued"?)? There is no caption or other prose to declare what it is.
Why would it be pictured on a contemporary makers blog?
http://contemporarymakers.blogspot.com/2012/02/antique-rifle.html
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I feel sure that it is an antique rifle. Art and Jan Riser have displayed several antique rifles on the Contemporary Makers Blog. They once displayed one of my originals. Most of the folks that follow their blog love to see originals as much as they do the contemporarys.
Dennis
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I would love to know who the maker was, that gun shows alot of influences executed on my Lou Sanchez contemporary rifle. Someone must have some idea?
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I may be off base here, but didn't a gun maker named Lechler make guns with the bird patchbox finial? I have seen this motif before, just need to remember where and when. If it comes to me, I'll chime in.
Dick
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Sure has a long trigger pull.
Nice walnut stock. Patchbox.
Like it.
Dan
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John Lechner used the bird motif patchbox. Here is Sanchez version on my rifle.
(https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi740.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx46%2Fjoemama7%2F025.jpg&hash=e19d7521845793fc1cab3f6f039ec8e5d589141f)
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Hmmm, Looks like a new gun with an old lock to me....
or maybe a recent restock of some old parts.....
The carving reminds me of the style that some of the guys on here do.....
John
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Funny you say that John, I thought the same thing.
FK
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Take a better look at it boys. It has the small butt plate cracks in the stock, the squeeze crack at the top lock plate bolt on the side plate, and various gouges and dings. These are pretty indicative of old wood. Not sure what the wood is, but it appears to have been refinished, to my eye. The gun looks like a genuine antique, as advertised. And, I think that 'el loco' called it correctly as to the maker. Too bad the owner didn't reveal the makers name if the gun is signed.
Dick
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Welcome to what I consider the bane of any present day antique collector. You contemporary builders have mastered skills such that telling a restock, or mixture of old and new parts becomes harder and harder to discriminate from an original.
Caveat emptor
Scientia est potentia
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It could have been restocked from a parts mix in 1810+-.
I don't think the original makers saw making a rifle from parts of broken rifles as a restock. They saw it as rifle making. I suspect they would change any name on the barrel to their own. I would in this situation.
Current production? It crossed my mind.
Dan
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Examples exist where a barrel was reused and the original name on the barrel was not removed. Kind of hard to understand from todays perspective but it is so.
Jim
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Wonder what type of wood this gun is stocked in? Looks too coarse for maple. Maybe, either a very coarse piece of walnut or a piece of ash?
Jim
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I will say one thing about the Contemporary Blog's postings of antique rifles without giving any info. They sure get some of the best thinkers around here to work out the details. ;D I really kind of like that!
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Wonder what type of wood this gun is stocked in? Looks too coarse for maple. Maybe, either a very coarse piece of walnut or a piece of ash?
Jim
I was thinking walnut originally, but curly ash is a better guess--the texture looks almost like oak more than walnut. I think the light color is one thing makes it look a little "contemporary", probably most of the varnish was scrubbed off?
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I thought Black Walnut also when I first looked at it, but after studying the grain pattern I doubt very much that it is. I have some Sassafras trim around in the house at various places, and this stock looks a lot like some of this trim.......the more I look at it, the more it looks like it's possibly Sassafras. Now I'm far too inexperienced to question Dennis' opinion that it is an original, but I sure wonder if Jud Brennan ever had his hands on this piece!