Nice rifle. Several months ago I was talking to Reeves Goehring about trade rifles. He was of the mind that there may have been two Jacob Fordney gunsmiths (Jr. and a younger Jacob) based on the two different stamps used for his name. The one used on flint era longrifles was J.FORDNEY over LANCASTER PA (all capital block letters). The stamp commonly seen on back action percussion guns is more of a Germanic script J. fordney over LANCASTER PA like this rifle posted here. I can see Reeves' point, but can't document the second one. There is a lot of conflicting evidence on Jacob Fordney Jr. listed in Whisker's book that suggests their may have been multiple JF Jr's in Lancaster and it is tough to sort out. He lists one Jacob Junior working as a gunsmith born in 1808 and dying in 1878, but notes another listed in Lancaster tax records as a whipmaker in 1803-1808 and and another listing as an innkeeper from 1813-35. Hanson notes an 1830 record of an AFC purchase of 10 double trigger rifles and 2 single trigger rifles with bright barrels from a "Jacob Fordney (formerly an apprentice of Jacob Gumpf)". Another completely plausible answer is that it was just one guy making guns and that he switched his stamp at some point, possibly surrounding his move to Columbia in 1831 or his return to Lancaster in 1835. The rifle posted here puts me a little more in the "One Jacob Camp". I just recently saw a really nice late flint longrifle by J. Fordney stamped in all caps with a lock stamped J. Cooper that is of the sort AFC would have bought. Based on what info I've found on Cooper, the lock puts the rifle in the 1830's.
I'm looking forward to seeing a few more Fordneys. I'd like to see a few more on here from folks like Henry, Dreppard, Gibbs, and Deringer.
Sean
