A Gathering of Eagles - North Carolina Eagle Patchboxes

[mbriggs]

I thought it might be nice to have some more Longrifle related post.

I have spent the last three years looking at eagle finial patchboxes.  The Vogler family made this the standard feature on Moravian Longrifles made in North Carolina.  Now that I have finished my Salem School book and sent it off to the printer, I am now hard a work on book number seven.  "The Longrifle Makers of the Davidson School" will focus on the 20 gunsmiths who worked in Davidson County.  They were German, but not Moravian.  Most were Lutherans and a few primitive Baptist.  The most prolific gunsmith in this school was Henry Ledford.  I have so far photographed no less than 40 of his rifles.  Andrew Long and his Nephews Felix and Solomon Long were also prolific gunsmiths according to their production records, but for some reason their rifles do not survive at the same rate as Ledford's.

Here are some photos of local Eagle Patchboxes.  If any of you have any photos of this subject, please post them.

Henry Ledford rifle made for C. Long in 1838.

     


Henry Ledford rifle




Beautiful eagle patchbox from Salem or Davidson - maker unknown.




Henry Ledford eagle patchbox



Jamestown School patchbox by Jabez Stephens




Henry Ledford flying wing patchbox.



Davidson School by Solomon Farrington - Note: head of eagle is silver.




Andrew Long eagle patchbox.



Felix Long eagle patchbox



Andrew Long eagle patchbox.



Thanks,

Michael

[WESTbury]

Beautiful, great post.

I especially like the Henry Ledford flying wing. You can almost see the motion.

Thanks for sharing these great patchboxes.

[Shreckmeister]

Great post. Love the Solomon Farmington. I’d love to see a post of the best Eagle cheekpieces. There are some real screamers

[VP]

Michael,
What a great collection of beautiful rifles. Thanks for sharing.

VP

[Nordnecker]

That's the nicest flock of eagles I've ever seen.

[Tim Crosby]

 Man, Aren't they Great.

   Tim

[bama]

Thanks so Michael for showing these beautiful boxes. I have always loved the eagle boxes and have another build that will start toward the end of June that will require one. I may have to use one of these for the inspiration for the patch box. Thanks again.

Jim

[mbriggs]

Jim,
Please post photos of what you come up with and add any photos of eagle box rifles you have made in the past.

[mbriggs]

We can always use a few more.

Henry Ledford for G. W. Jones.




Henry Ledford




George vogler.

[mbriggs]

Here are more examples.

Christoph Vogler



John Vogler



Salem School



I know some of you have other examples, please post them.

Michael

[cshirsch]

Wonderful!  Thanks for posting the photos.

[Clowdis]

An outstanding display Michael!

[mbriggs]

Thanks Chris and Blair, glad you enjoyed it.

Michael

[JTR]

Thanks for posting all these great images!
And more thanks for posting most in high resolution as well!
John

[577SXS]

Thanks for posting these photos. Love the eagles.

[mbriggs]

I have received a couple of request for cheek rest eagle inlays on North Carolina rifles.  Here are a few I could find.  What do you have?

Nathaniel Vogler - Salem



George Foltz - Salem



Davidson School



Jabez Stephens - Jamestown School



William Lamb - Jamestown School



William Lamb - Jamestown School



Jabez Stephens - Jamestown School



So what do you have?