Macungie stone??

[EC121]

A question occurred to me while I was reading about the Jacob Kuntz rifle in Hansen's longrifle book.  He mentions that Macungie stone was used in some of the inlays on that rifle.  He says it is a stone quarried near Allentown, Pa.  I found Macungie, Pa. mentioned in Google, but no stone of that type.  Does anyone know what type of stone it is?

[Lucky R A]

       There are some very good photos of the rifle in Dave Hanson's book The Evolution of the American Longrifle.   I have seen the Wender (double flint rifle) in person and the stone appears to be a rather dark gray to green color, although I did not examine it that close.  It does not appear to be facet cut, but rather smooth.
       Just south of Allentown very near the village of Vera Cruz is a site where the Indians quarried Jasper for making arrowheads etc.   Most of the material that I have seen from the site tends to be a reddish brown, but I have seen a few darker grey/green shaded pieces from that area.  Perhaps the stone is a piece of Jasper.  There are others on the site that may have knowledge of exactly what kind of stone was used in the Jewel Kuntz rifle. 
Ron

[Buck]

I was going to offer the thought that it was along the lines of onyx. I had an Easton rifle that had the patchbox piercings inlaid with the same stone.
Buck

[spgordon]

If they mean a type of stone that Macungie was known for--it's probably jasper (as Lucky says).

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_43/September_1893/Prehistoric_Jasper_Mines_in_the_Lehigh_Hills

There is a nice display of jasper arrowheads at the Lower Milford Township Historical Society.

Scott

[E.vonAschwege]

It looks awfully dark for any Jasper, but the evidence seems to point to it being so.  Kuntz also used bone, horn, mother of pearl, ivory, ebony, and glass for inlays.  The cheek inlay on the Kuntz rifle in the Metropolitan Museum is glass or clear agate with some kind of exotic wood veneer or stone underneath - on close up examination neither Tom nor I could figure out what it was.  For scale, the oval is about 3/4" long.  Any guesses?  
-Eric


Photo taken by Tom Curran, Permission to share publicly granted courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.

[Buck]

Definitely glass, looks like wood underneath.

[EC121]

I figured it was some semiprecious stone from the Macungie area, but all I got on the search was jewelery stores in Macungie, PA.   We would have to know when that type of stone was named "jasper".   More than likely all the locals back then knew it by was "that shiny stone they mine over at Macungie".
    My vote is for glass because of the way it broke. 

[Buck]

Biotite Mica otherwise known as Eastonite? It's indigenous to Pennsylvania. Look up precious stones indigenous to PA.
Buck

[E.vonAschwege]

Just to clarify - the photo I posted is NOT in reference to Macungie stone - it is something entirely different from the rifle at the Met museum.  The surface piece on that inlay is likely glass, with the piece underneath being the mystery.  Didn't mean to hijack the Macungie stone thread - just another one of Kuntz's oddities. 
-Eric

[Buck]

Do you have any more pictures of the Kuntz rifle?