Aluminum side plates on a patch box?

[Lucky R A]

      I am in the process of doing some work on a gun for a client.   The gun has obvious Berks Co. architecture.  The patch box has the side plates separated from the patch box lid by an area of wood as is often found in later flint period guns.  One side plate was completely missing, the other initially appeared to be a replacement made of tin of some other material.  When I removed that side plate it was obvious that it was original to the gun, and appears to be made of aluminum.  The original cut nails held it into place and the wood under the side plate shows no other holes other than those.  The side plate material is about .032 thick is engraved with wriggle engraving consistent with that on the barrel.  The material is oxidized consistent with having been in place on the gun for a long period of time. 
      Has any of you ever encountered aluminum side plates on a gun such as I describe above?   Unfortunately, the makers signature was almost completely cut off when the barrel was shortened by about 6" from the breech and was then percussed and half stocked.

Thanks Ron

[mr. no gold]

Could it be a WVA gun? Some of the rifles built there have a decided Berks look to their archtecture. At least one maker, Benson, used the rare metal, (at that time) aluminum for inlays, etc. I have never seen it used anywhere else in other schools, but that doesn't mean anything. Can you post some photos of the piece?
Dick

[Hungry Horse]

Aluminum wasn't just a rare metal back in the day, it was a precious metal. I remember a big flap several years ago, when they decided to clean the crown jewels of I think Sweden, and found that the queens royal crown was made of aluminum.
 I have seen a couple of mid 19th century half stocks with aluminum inlays. I have not seen large pieces as you describe.

                      Hungry Horse

[VP]

If you look in the library you can see a George Benson from Preston County, WV that shows the aluminum inlays. Here is the link:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=6967.0

[mr. no gold]

HH, You are quite right in that it was a precious metal. A history professor of mine told this story in class; a long long time ago when Napoleon and Josephine hosted a grand state dinner in Paris, the guests sat down to solid gold dinner service. Napoleon and his lady ate off of priceless aluminum service. My how times change! That would have been in 1805 or so, if the story is true and it well could be. Don't know what processes they used to produce the metal or the sources, but it stayed rare for another century.
Dick

[smokinbuck]

Charles Meissner, Muskingum County, Ohio 1839-1924, used a piece of aluminum on the leading edge of his cheek piece as one of his architectural trade marks.
Mark