[jdm] Thanks for the positive comments. I have taken the rifle apart and do believe the stock is original to it. This is the only rifle known to survive from this unidentified gunsmith. He was a very good engraver, not as good as some of the others in wood work or metal work. It is a very attractive rifle to me.
[wildcatter] I had not considered ZG, but I see your point. I will send those initials to my two researchers who are helping me with Mecklenburg. As to if several makers were working together, yes they had to be. We know that Isaac Price was the first gunsmith and took in four apprentices. Three of those apprentices along with Isaac Price have no rifles that are known to survive. Zenas Alexander took in three apprentices. There is one Zenas Alexander rifle and one rifle from his apprentice James McKee, but it is an Appalachian school rifle. There are two William Black and two Samuel Black rifles. They show many of the same features, they are possible kin, but there were multiple people named William and Samuel Black living in the county at the same time, it is hard to figure out who were the gunsmiths. There are at least five signed Isaac Thompson rifles, and you mentioned you used to own a sixth. His rifles use the side plate of Isaac Price, but he did not apprentice under him. Christian Arney has two rifles that survive, both have features consistent with Isaac Thompson. The first man to apprentice under Isaac Price was Abraham Henderson of Gaston County. He was born in 1762 and became an apprentice in 1776. There are no rifles signed by him known to survive, but there are two Mecklenburg rifles that are signed L H that survive and one early carved rifle signed I H. I believe both are from men who were relatives of Henderson, but that is just a guess. It is all a fun mystery. I can guess at names, but expect to be proven wrong in time. The only person who never makes a mistake is the person that does not do anything.
[shreckmeister] Thanks for your comments. Bill Ivey is a very close personal friend of mine. It was Bill that discovered this school in the 1980's, and who taught me the features to look for in identifying rifles from this school.
I do not expect my new book to be the be all or end all on this subject. It will contain detailed color photos of all 19 known rifles from this school including many that have never been published before and all information and source material on newly found gunsmiths and their shop locations.
Michael Briggs
