For some reason my computer didn't bring up the earlier correspondence regarding this rifle before I jumped into the discussion. So, I stand corrected on the maker, as it has been determined by Henry that it is indeed a Johannes rifle. Reedy's work is often very close to this pattern and suggests that he recognized the superior concepts of his teacher, seeing fit to continue them in his own work while modifying them when he chose to do so.
Too bad about the depredations of the 'restorers' at NPS. The feds can be the worst offenders in almost any setting.
One time while at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, I noted that there was a profusion of sandstone, hand dressed, stepping and foundation stones throughout the Park. On inquiry of a ranger, the explanation was that when the government took the land for the Park, there were numerous old homes in the area. Because planners wanted to show the area as wilderness, they razed all of the homes, many of which had been built in the late
1700s or early 1800s, leaving only the stones behind.
That was an act of historical vandalism at its worst, in my mind. There are more examples; one involved the best known collection of antique military leather which was stored in a celler in the San Francisco Presidio. The curator was rearranging the exhibits and in a heavy rainstorm the cellar flooded, destroying the entire collection.
So, somehow the surface destruction of this fine rifle is not a total surprise.
Dick
