Robert Woods Gunsmith - Nicolas Hawk influence

[KMac]

Found this long rifle made by Robert Woods on Cowan’s Auction which sold in 2017.

Robert Woods must have had a close relationship with Nicolas Hawk and/or Jacob Deemer as this rifle is very much in the same style. I had not heard of Robert Woods but obviously the signed barrel informs us who made this rifle, and obviously in the Nicolas Hawk style signature.

If I recall, William Henry was married to Anne Wood (Henry family of gunsmiths from Lancaster/ Nazareth, PA) – Possible relation?

Images on the link to Cowan’s…
https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/kentucky-flintlock-rifle-by-robert-woods-3130162

Description from Cowan’s below…
.45 caliber, 42.5" octagonal barrel, browned finish, brass furniture, German silver decorations, maple stock. Top of barrel marked Robert Woods in script in a decorated brass plaque. Flint lock is marked J. EDMOND / WARRANTED. Lock appears to be original flint, as does barrel. Lock with fenced and bridled, rounded iron pan and flat, faceted swan-necked cock. Four-piece, engraved brass patchbox (lid not engraved), with Daisy style head with extended finial. Two-piece brass buttplate, flat brass side plate, brass nosecap and brass triggerguard with lightly engraved extension plate to the the entry pipe. Two faceted brass ramrod thimbles and a matching, faceted entry pipe secure a horn tipped wooden ramrod with tin end. Barrel secured by four wedges that pass through German silver escutcheons from the reverse and terminate in German silver escutcheons on the obverse. German silver escutcheon plate at wrist with the script initials AS. Lightly edge decorated German silver escutcheon plate inlaid in raised cheek rest, with brass pick pipe under cheek rest. Roman Nosed stock with 1.4" wide butt, and incised lines along the upper edge of the toe line and forend. Notched rear sight, brass blade front sight. This rifle is pictured on page 174 of The Kentucky Rifle by John G.W. Dillin as plates #3 & #4, attributed to the author's collection. After the physical description the author simply notes "Very Beautiful". We couldn't agree more. A wonderful American rifle in all respects.
Robert Woods worked in Pocono, PA c1828 (Sellers).
Condition:

Fine. Rifle retains no finish on the barrel, but shows a nice, evenly oxidized patina with scattered flecks and freckles of surface oxidation and a few areas of discolored pinpricking. Brass with an even, mellow patina. Lock fully functional, bore with deep rifling, dirty and lightly pitted along its length. Stock very good with a minor repair at the toe, a repaired crack at the lock mortise behind the hammer and a couple of small repairs in the forend. Some burn out behind the hammer as well, and the expected scattered handling marks and dings. Amazingly, the rifle appears to have escaped the usual "help" forced on guns by their owners, like aggressive cleaning or major repairs. A really lovely rifle with an even look that appears to be essentially unmolested since the gun was published in 1924.

[spgordon]

If I recall, William Henry was married to Anne Wood (Henry family of gunsmiths from Lancaster/ Nazareth, PA) – Possible relation?

Probably not. The father of Ann Wood (1734-1799)--Abraham Wood (1703-1733)--died young. He did have two sons, one of whom (also named Abraham) was indentured to a Philadelphia carpenter in the mid-1740s.

Ann Wood's mother remarried a lawyer named Joseph Rose and moved to Lancaster.

William and Ann Henry remained in close touch with Ann's sister Elizabeth Wood (who married John Carson, at Paxton) and with two stepsisters--Matilda Rose (who married Samuel Postlethwait) and Sarah Ursula Rose (who married twice, the second time to General Henry Miller). None of these folks carried the "Wood" name into later generations.

I've not found that anybody who kept the "Wood" name (that is, Abraham Wood's two sons or their descendants) became a gunsmith. 

None of the Henry family materials from the period when Woods seems to have been working (c. 1828)--and all the Boulton ledgers and some correspondence survive from this period--mention him, at least that I've seen.

[KMac]

It would be interesting to see what the ledges say of Robert Woods.

Thanks for the family info Scott - guess Woods is a common name.

[spgordon]

It would be interesting to see what the ledges say of Robert Woods.

It would!

For the folks who don't know, all the Boulton records (and many others, including Joseph Henry's Philadelphia gunshop [1807-1822]) have been digitized and are available on the Jacobsburg Historical Society website. They aren't searchable (the PDFs that are there were made from old microfilm), so the only way to search them is to read them through ...

http://www.jacobsburghistory.com/henry-family-papers-hagley-microfilms/

[KMac]

Thanks for the link Scott!

[Shreckmeister]

I think Hawk made it for Woods and put his name on it

[Buck]

Rob,

I'm not a Hawk student (though I admire his work). If the barrel is signed Robert Woods and he's the owner I'd think the thumb plate initials would have an RW not the AS, AJ, or AL. Thoughts? Is he listed in American Gunsmiths?

Buck

[JTR]

That's a nice looking rifle.
I've had a couple of his guns, a swivel and a rifle, and the engraving on this one doesn't look like Hawks hand.
Here's a Hawk side plate, for example;

[utseabee]

Is it me, or is the engraving on the barrel not the same quality as what is on the patch box?

[Shreckmeister]

Rob,

I'm not a Hawk student (though I admire his work). If the barrel is signed Robert Woods and he's the owner I'd think the thumb plate initials would have an RW not the AS, AJ, or AL. Thoughts? Is he listed in American Gunsmiths?

Buck

It’s a mystery. The repeated engraving element of parallel lines coming off a curve terminating in a point is common Hawk work. More interesting is the treatment of the toe plate nearest the butt, also a Hawk element. If it wasn’t Hawk, the maker was copying. The engraving on the barrel plate does look out of place

Woods



Hawk

[Buck2]

John - I suppose those 2 rifles can be categorized as 2 you wish you still had?

Buck

[JTR]

 Hi Buck,
I still have one, but it was used as a movie gun in the Sgt York film, so has been abused a bit.
But, yeah, my very sweet Hawk swivel breech went to a new home.
I always hoped to find a Hawk pistol, but never even saw one for sale...

[KMac]

I did find Robert Wood in the Boulton’s records – thanks Scott!

Found under:
e. Workmen’s Ledger, 1832-1839; Order & Shipment Book, 1832-1835

Two listings for Robert Wood;
Oct 18, 1832
March 22, 1833

Also Found two listings for Nicolas Hawk
August 1832
March 2, 1833

[spgordon]

Amazing! Fantastic!!

[JTR]

Hey KMac, thanks for that!
I always wondered where Hawk got his major parts, as he was too late of maker to be fabricating his own.
On one invoice it has 2 rifle barrels for 5.50, and on the last invoice it has one Pair rifle barrels for 6 bucks. For one of his swivel breech guns, I guess.
John

[Bill Paton]

Very good information, KMac! I am impressed that you spelled Hawk's name ”Nicolas”. That is how he spelled it on his barrels, very frequently in an inset brass plate similar to the Woods Rifle.

Roy Chandler copied it correctly in his first Patchboxes and Barrel Marks.

Most other references spell his name “Nicholas”. These include gunmaker books by Sellers, Kauffman, Gardner, Whisker, Carey, and Heer’s Der Neue Stockel, as well as reference books by Dillin, Kauffman, and Merrill Lindsay. The KRA book The Kentucky Rifle (1967) spells his name “Nickolas”.

Note that Boulton spelled his name “Nicholas” in 1833. He spelled “Robert Wood" without the “s” seen on the barrel signature.

There are a number of rifles that are Hawk-esque and I assume were associated with him. This Robert Woods rifle fits the bill. A Robert Wood (not Woods) is listed in  Whisker’s Arms Makers of Pennsylvania as from Northampton Co in 1928, where Hawk was from. That fits pretty well. Sellers notes him as “Woods” with same date and location and sites Dillin. Gardner notes Robert Woods in Pennsylvania about 1800.

So there is a lot of “gray” in these records. i think barrel signatures can usually be believed with respect to spelling. I think you have zeroed in on the maker and his (maybe loose) association with Nicolas Hawk.

Bill Paton

[KMac]

Nicolas Hawk lived "just over the Blue mountain" north of Boulton in what became Monroe County and only about a half hour drive from Boulton/Nazareth, PA. Buying barrels, locks, etc. from Boulton would make sense.

I too was thinking the Robert Wood barrel signature didn't look like the same hand. But finding the records of the purchases from Boulton seams to confirm Robert Wood as the gunsmith. This is the only Robert Wood long rifle I ever heard of unless he didn't sign some of his guns.

I did also note the "s" for Woods and these records and the signature confirm the spelling as Wood.

As far as "Hawk-esque" long rifles...

I took these photos (poor quality) at the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, WY. Can't see it in the photo but the locked is marked JJ Henry Boulton as I recall. Possibly made by the Henry's but I don't think they used this patchbox. It does look like it could be a Hawk-esque maker from the same are in northeastern PA.

Any thoughts on a maker?










picture t

[Shreckmeister]

The Robert Woods listed in American Gun Makers as "Pennsylvania, about 1800.  Beautiful Flintlock Kentucky rifle"  could very much be referencing the
same gun we are talking about on this thread.  I'd like to see a second signed gun to flesh out this story.

[KMac]

Very much a possibility it was this long rifle.

I agree it would be nice to see more Robert Wood long rifles.

It would would be neat to see a N. Hawk, R. Wood, J. Deemer, etc. style guns all together to compare. Who knows, maybe some Hawk attributed guns were made by Wood?

[JTR]

One pretty easy way to differentiate Hawk from the others is by the engraving. Hawk was a pretty accomplished engraver (for the time) and his engraving is pretty consistent from gun to gun.  Especially on the small details.

[KMac]

You're right John. He had a very fine engraving style.

I own a Hawk and think I may have sent you an image of the finial a few years ago as yours was missing. It was this style finial...
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/27559

On the Hawk I have, there is a vertical hard wire/pin in the patch box. I have not seen on any other Hawks or long rifles. Think it may be to hold patches. I'll try to get a photo and upload an image.

[JTR]

Yes, you're right, and thanks again for that!
That was for the Sgt York movie set gun I have. Someplace in this sections old pages is a comparison of my Hawk Swivel and that no doubt Hawk rifle, though the name on the barrel now is P G Ludlow.
John

[KMac]

No problem - glad to help John.

I'll have to look for that york swivel on these pages.

[Shreckmeister]

We’ve seen examples that reflect these gunsmiths improved their engraving abilities over time. You walk before you run.