Author Topic: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum  (Read 4520 times)

Offline smart dog

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Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« on: January 01, 2017, 09:12:35 PM »
Hi Folks and Happy New Year,
I spent time at my brother's new house in SE PA during the holidays.  He is not far from Valley Forge so we spent some time there. We also drove up to Doylestown to visit the Mercer museum because I wanted to see the Edward Marshall rifle.  The museum is very nice and worth the visit but the displays are not easy to see clearly.  Most are collections of tools and products representing different trades but the items are in little closed off display rooms and you view them from a distance through windows kind of like if you were window shopping.  They have a gunsmithing display but you really cannot see the tools and guns very well.  With regard to the Marshall rifle, we had to ask where to find it because it was not in the gunsmithing display or the firearms display.  Instead, it was in the collection of native American artifacts and it was included in a display about the "walking purchase",  in which Marshall was an important player. The rifle stands vertically, with lock facing out.  It is set back from the glass window and in a little recess so much of the detail is lost in shadow.  You really cannot see much detail.  Fortunately, my main purpose was to gain a sense of the gun's proportions, which I did.  Anyone building one should understand that although the lock area, wrist, and butt stock are fairly robust, the forestock forward of the lock is as slim, thin, and graceful as any early long rifle.  Fortunately, there are many excellent photos of the gun published in several books but don't expect to get good views at the museum. I am going to write a note to the head curator requesting they display the rifle better.  I believe it is one of the most historically significant items in their collection and instead of placing it as peripheral to the walking purchase, it should be included with their other long rifles in a display of long rifle evolution. 

dave   
"The main accomplishment of modern economics is to make astrology look good."

Offline flinchrocket

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Re: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« Reply #1 on: January 01, 2017, 11:16:51 PM »
One fact that I have been curious about is the stamp on the bottom of the barrel on the Edward Marshall rifle. Eric Kettenburg noted that it was a deep stamp of a pair of shears, I believe it was found by John Bivins,not sure on that.However, rifle #164 in Kindig's book,Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle,which Kindig attributes to George Shroyer, has a deep stamp of open shears with the initials-GS-
on the barrel. Kindig said that rifle #164 was one of earliest kentuckys in existence,in his opinion.
I wonder if the stamps on the barrels are the same with the exception of the initials GS.

Offline smart dog

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Re: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2017, 02:00:35 AM »
Hi,
I don't know if there are marks under the barrel but the top has crude marks indicating Rothenberg, Germany as the origin of the barrel.  Moreover, the patchbox cover and carving behind the cheek piece are very similar to work by Andreas Albrecht and Christian Oerter.  In fact, nothing on the rifle suggests George Schroyer but then there may be other cues of which I am not aware.

dave
"The main accomplishment of modern economics is to make astrology look good."

Offline Monty59

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Re: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2017, 11:10:44 AM »
Happy New Year ! I do not know if you saw all the pics that Jud Brennan made of the rifle take a look on his blog http://judsonbrennan.blogspot.de/search?updated-max=2016-10-22T16:33:00-08:00&max-results=100&start=2&by-date=false

Monty
« Last Edit: January 03, 2017, 06:29:31 AM by Ky-Flinter »

Offline smart dog

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Re: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2017, 03:18:51 PM »
Thanks Monty,
I will take a look at Jud's photos.  We are fortunate that the gun has been photographed quite a bit but some features, such as size are best observed first hand. One illusion that I noted was because of the slim forearm, the gun looks longer than it really is.  It is quite a beautiful rifle.

dave
"The main accomplishment of modern economics is to make astrology look good."

Offline Stan

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Re: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2017, 03:52:33 AM »
Surely the hardware as well as the barrel (with shears mark) came from Germany. I have a yeager rifle with a stamped makers mark, a pair of shears, on the bottom flat.  Stan

Offline flinchrocket

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Re: Edward Marshall rifle at Mercer Museum
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2017, 01:33:48 AM »
Kindig stated in his book that rifle #164 had a deep stamp of open shears. If all these stamps are the same, it may lead to the shop where they came from and possibly a time period.