I am starting on my first Lehigh build and was unclear in my direction until I received the KRA Lehigh CD for Christmas and became rather enamored with the work of John Rupp. I believe there is the work of 2 John Rupps shown on the CD but in my case the work of what I believe is the earlier John Rupp is what catches my eye. Kindigs # 62 is a prime example.
Rupp is making classic Lehigh architectured rifles yet his decorative carving style is much closer to Christian's Spring work. Very much differnet from his older brother Herman who is more closely following Johannes Moll. Same lehigh patchbox finial but the carving is very different.
A key design element is the carving on the forward edge of the cheekpiece/ wrist junction. Basically consisting of an upper and lower leaf either incised or in low relief. This element is a standard Christian Oerter design , although almost always in wire on Oerter's work.
In EK's excellent article he has John Rupp born in 1762, thats put's him apprenticing in the late 70s. But who with ? From a decorative perspective I'd say Oerter.. but research has almost proved that's not the case, plus we know what happened to poor Christian. Neihardt.. maybe, but I think these design elements are closer to CS than Neihardt's work. Neihardt shows this leaf element a bit but almost in a vestigial way. I see similiarities to Kunz also but he wasnt learning this from Kunz. Or was Rupp just exposed to this design enough that he just embraced it ?.. as I plan to.
I wish I could have shown some pictures to document what I'm talking about but don't have permission to do so. However you can see this clearly by viewing EK's work at the following link.
http://web.mac.com/kettenburgs/Site/John_Rupp.html#10 I would also encourage readers to get the KRA Lehigh CD but be careful, you might go down the slipperly slope of wanting to build one as I have.
