If this gun wasn't built by Henry Albright, or a student of his, (which is very unlikely), it would be a surprise to me. I have been a long time admirer of this man's guns. He is the only gunbuilder known to me to have ever used a sideplate of this design. Even though he originally worked in Lancaster Co., PA, where his earlier guns used a straight rail on the trigger guard, as most all Lancasters, after marrying his second wife Catherine Beck, his trigger guards took on the more curved rail as the Beck style trigger guard, much like the guard on this gun. The latch on the patch box is very similar to the style also used by the Becks. The engraving on the patch box is very similar to Albright's style of engraving. Even though I have never seen a patch box of this design on one of his signed guns, he used several different designs of patch boxes, more than most any gunbuilders of the time, everything from the Lancaster daisy, a horsehead style, double dove and others. When it comes to Henry Albright's stocks, you cannot go by the architechture. He used more than one style unlike other gunsmiths of the time. In the book, Behold the Longrifle, is a signed Henry Albright rifle in the Bedford Co. style with all of the inlays and carvings of the Bedford style but with a horsehead patch box. This man was apt to use any style stock that he wished to use. Joe Kindig believed this man to be of little wealth because he seemed to travel alot. Once he learned his craft in Lancaster Co., he spent a year or so in Ohio before returning to Lancaster, PA. So, he was apt to have learned several different styles in his lifetime of patch boxes and stock architechture. Alan
