Arnie Dowd - paneled butt plate

[wildcatter]

Arnie did an article in 1991 or 1992 titled "The Paneled Butt Plate School of Southern Kentuckies" for the American Society of Arms Collectors. Anyone have that article or a .pdf of that article they would be willing to share, I would greatly appreciate it.

Matt

[Ky-Flinter]

Hey Matt,

Here ya go..... http://americansocietyofarmscollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Kentucky-rifle-panneled-buttplate-B067_Dowd.pdf

-Ron

[Tim Crosby]

 This is to good to lose, I'm going to move it over to "Antiques". Thanks for posting it Ron.

   Tim

[wildcatter]

Really appreciate it Ron!!

Matt

[realtorone]

My A.S.Jones Half Stock which is thought to have been made in Paducah Ky. See  Kentucky Gunmakers by Shelby W. Gallien has silver paneled buttplate as well as other silver which is engraved.This rifle was found in the Bibb family of Montgomery Al where it most likely had resided since new.  One of the Bibb brothers was the Governor of Alabama and another was a federal Judge just after the civil war. Look close at the barrel as the front of each flat is scolloped where the round portion starts except the top flat which runs all the way to the cut for the bullet starter. The barrel is stamped A.Chinn who was a rifle smith before and after the Civil War.

[wildcatter]

George,

Would love to see pictures of it!

Matt

[realtorone]

Its pictures in Shelby Book Vol I, 4 pictures on page 197.

 

[WElliott]

I think that Arnie and I have concluded that subsequent  evidence points to one gunsmith, Wiley G.  Higgins of Georgia,  as constituting the entire “Paneled Buttplate School of Southern Kentuckies”

[Hungry Horse]

Wayne, you may very well be right on this subject. Some of the  Higgins, and Kennedy, families moved to Alabama after the Civil War. Both families were large, with several highly trained craftsmen, and gunsmiths on both sides. Anyone making Southern longrifles, with paneled buttplates, more than likely was apprenticed to one of these families. The stylistically unusual paneled buttplates no doubt got used periodically by these gunsmiths, on their higher end commissions, and almost without a doubt can be traced to Wiley Higgins.
 Interestingly enough relative of both these families kept moving west, over time, until they wound up being neighbors in Lake County California.

  Hungry Horse

[WElliott]

I would like to see an example of a panelled buttplate on a rifle made by someone in the Higgins family other than Wiley. Are there any examples from Higgins family members who moved to Alabama? Arkansas?  Texas?

[WElliott]

How about an example from someone not a Higgins?  I’ve been looking for such examples. Perhaps someone has an example to point to. ?

[realtorone]

Wayne  Look in Shelby Gallien's Book on Kentucky Gunmakers referenced above. It appears that A.S. Jones worked in Kentucky prior to civil war and Alabama afterward. The barrel maker also came south and was in Monroe La in 1870.
George Hebling

[WElliott]

George, the Jones rifle does not have what Arnie and I refer to as a paneled buttplate. By paneled we mean panels on the rear surface of the buttplate itself, not decorative panels on the stock itself on either side of the buttplate.  I will post an illustrative picture later.

[WElliott]

Panaled buttpate of rifle signed Wiley G. Higgins.  A horizontal line with three vertical panels below.

[realtorone]

I see the difference. Before Shelby's brother took the pictures of the Jones rifle he talked about Higgins paneled rifles and their work in Georgia. I took it to be a Reference to the panels like those on the Jones rifle. Sorry to have misled you , just trying to help.
George .

[WElliott]

Completely understand, George. There is nothing like pictures where words fail. I’m glad you raised the question. 

[ClaudeH]

Thanks, Wayne!  I didn't know the term when I saw this thread and even reading Arnie Dowd's paper left me scratching my head.

Every rifle he shows has those big inlays adjacent to the buttplate on both sides except one (#5 I think).  That exception was the only thing keeping me from reaching a firm but erroneous conclusion as to what he was talking about.

Your photo was worth a thousand words!