Best work by William Buchele (Updated with photos)

[smart dog]

Hi,
Is there anyone on this forum who is knowledgeable about the value and desirability of William Buchele's very best work?  Below are photos of a Buchele rifle exhibiting the qualities about which I am asking.

dave 

[tim crowe]

I have only seen one and I believe was early work and was told the price he paid. The owner really wanted one of Buchele's guns so he bought it.

[Jim Chambers]

I will be bringing a really nice Buchele rifle to the CLA in a couple of weeks.  The asking price is $4,500.  We'll see if there is interest in it.

[Bob Roller]

For those who like this sort of thing then once again, it's a negotiation
between a will seller and a willing buyer.  Buchele's work was way to
radical for me and I have seen several more over the top than this one.

Bob Roller

[Bill Paton]

I will take photos of my Buchele swivel breech with similar style, heavily carved, engraved, and wire inlayed.

The one you pictured, Dave, is particularly interesting to me because it depicts the escape of Samuel Brady from Indians about 1780. The story goes that he was being pursued by hostile Indians and leaped 21 ft across a canyon cataract of the Cuyahoga River one block away from where I grew up in Kent, Ohio. I was brought up on the story of “Brady’s Leap”. He supposedly ran on several miles to Brady Lake and hid there under water beneath a fallen tree and breathed through a hollow reed. They didn’t catch him. The butt stock carving shows him under water with the reed in his mouth, and above him are Indians carrying war clubs trying to find him.

The story resonates with me, but not the style of the rifle. I stand with Bob Roller on that issue.

Bill Paton

[Mike Brooks]

The man certainly had an imagination.....

[Jim Kibler]

That's one way to put it, Mike!  This is a good example of how dye stains can sometimes hold up to time as well.

[Smoketown]

The man certainly had an imagination.....

Not my style but, it's still a "Buchele Rifle" and that would make it worth something to someone who collects his work. 

Heck, it could even be worth a premium ... How many "story rifles" did the man build?

Cheers,
Smoketown

[D. Buck Stopshere]

My late business partner and friend, Lewis B. Sanchez, owned the Buchele rifle that was used as the two-piece paper pattern that accompanied his book, "Recreating the American Longrifle". Lew used to display it at the shop with other fine rifles by numerous gunmakers, including Jack Haugh, Fred Riley, and John Bivins. You can see Lew's rifle crafted by John Bivins on the cover of the 1977 "Gun Digest".  Its laying across the rifle made by John's protege, Monte Mandarino.

Lew and I visited with Mr Buchele on our way to or from Friendship back in the '70's, and he confirmed that the rifle was the design for the pattern.

[smart dog]

Hi and Thanks for the replies,
A friend of the owner may have the rifle at CLA this year.  I've encouraged him to bring it there.  He may also post it for sale on this site.

dave