Lydeck?

[nord]

Please view the attached photos of my long rifle. The patchbox is identical to the patchbox attributed to the Lauck family in the above attachment “Lauck Rifle Posting.”This rifle with an identical patchbox was sold on auction.  I went to the Museum of the Shenandoah, in Winchester, VA, and noted that the Lauck rifle on display had very similar characteristics to my rifle. What is particularly interesting is the barrel inscription of “Peter LyJack.” I could not find a Peter LyJack in my research. I found reference to a Revolutionary War gunmaker in Baltimore, MD named Peter Lydeck. I am not sure how likely it would be that this is the same person. Is anyone familiar with a barrel maker named Peter LyJack?

 

[Dale Campbell]

Hi Nord,

I think the "J" in the signature is a "d" in script. Script "J" is usually quite different. My opinion and worth what you paid for it.

[eastwind]

I owned this same rifle some years ago..found on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I spent some time researching the name Lydeck / Lyjack/Lydick/Littig finding very little positive evidence of its past history. All four of the mentioned names (likely to be one gunsmith spelled in a variety of ways) apparently made muskets in the Baltimore area - Ref:  Hartzler-ARMS MAKERS OF MARYLAND. Not much more found, and of course it is possible the barrel is a replacement, albeit a good one.
I never found any reference for a Lyjack barrel maker, but the gun does not appear to be 18th century/Rev War period as Hartzler's Lydick listing... and I agree it looks a lot like a Virginia made rifle.
For what it is worth...
Patrick Hornberger

[bgf]

This is a crazy idea, but could it be an alternate spelling of "Lauck" so that it is Peter Lauck?  I've not convinced myself of the validity of the variant (and deleted a rambling linguistic speculation to spare others), but it might be worth looking into, as there are similar if not identical variants of the name Lauck.  I think "Lyjack" is a tenable reading, with the "y" being vocalic and the "j"=consonantal y (as in German where "j" is the palatal approximant).  Of course, "Lydack" is also possible .

[Eric Kettenburg]

Just a crazy thought  but since the barrel signature photo looks a little blurry to me, any chance there were a few extra letters or marks beyond the "k," as in Peter LydeckER?