Author Topic: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added  (Read 2143 times)

Offline Ky-Flinter

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Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« on: January 15, 2022, 07:24:12 AM »
I have come across an antique Fowler with an octagon to round barrel stamped " A. Lenox" on the top flat.  I don't have access to any of my references currently and a search on that name turned up a bunch of hits on hacksaw blades. :(

Does anyone have any info on A. Lenox?  Thanks.

Ron
« Last Edit: January 18, 2022, 01:04:59 AM by Ky-Flinter »
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Offline Avlrc

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox?
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2022, 07:38:40 AM »
Kaufman:

Andrew Lennox

Next door to post office, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1826
Fairview ( ten miles  up Allegheny) , Pittsburgh, 1837

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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox?
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2022, 10:27:10 AM »
Thanks Avlrc, appreciate you looking.  Could be our guy, but the name on the barrel was stamped in block letters with only one "N".  The Fowler looks English, nothing like the rifle in the link above.

Ron
« Last Edit: January 18, 2022, 01:04:10 AM by Ky-Flinter »
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Offline Avlrc

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox?
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2022, 09:42:14 PM »
I don't believe spelling was held to the same regard back then as it is today.   In researching old gunmakers from my area, I sometimes find them with various spellings.  Especially in the census, as the names were written down by the census taker and they spelled names the way they sound to them.

Does any of the architecture look the same as the signed A. L.?

Can you post some pictures? 

Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox?
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2022, 01:30:51 AM »
Well, the A. Lenox fowler is following me home.  I will post pictures when I get back.  As I mentioned, the barrel is long, about 49"+ I think.  The barrel has a hole for a drum or vent liner.  It is currently mounted in a very  English looking Walnut half stock with iron furniture.  I don't know if they were born together or it's a restock.  The crazy part is there is nowhere to mount the lock!!  The whole center of the stock that carries the lock panels has been expertly repaired with a new section of wood, but it has not been inletted for a lock.  Pictures to follow.

Ron
« Last Edit: January 18, 2022, 01:09:53 AM by Ky-Flinter »
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox?
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2022, 09:39:48 AM »
Update:  The barrel is actually 50-1/2" long.  The stock has a nose cap of a different type of wood or maybe horn?.  Is it possible to tell if the stock is English walnut from the pictures?

I'll remove the barrel in a day or 2 and check for proof marks.

Barrel stamped on the top flat, between breech and wedding band.




No lock mortise! :o








Notice section of replaced wood.


Graft can be seen at a diagonal.





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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #7 on: January 16, 2022, 05:59:23 PM »
Well, that's weird. ???
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Offline Levy

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2022, 07:47:53 PM »
It looks like the entire mid-section of the firearm has been replaced with new wood.  Maybe a restoration job never finished.  James Levy
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #9 on: January 16, 2022, 10:25:44 PM »
It looks like the entire mid-section of the firearm has been replaced with new wood. 

Correct.

Ron
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Offline Avlrc

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2022, 08:40:11 PM »
That is different for sure.  They did a good job splicing the wood, now you just need to add a lock &  get the colors to match.  A lock & side plate will displace a lot of it.  Looks English to me.   Doesn't look like the other Lennox posted on here. 

Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #11 on: January 18, 2022, 01:31:34 AM »
I pulled the barrel and confirmed it has a hooked breech.  Unfortunately there are no stamped proof or markers marks that I can find on the underside of the barrel.

My theory on this gun is the front and rear sections of the stock are original to the gun.  At some point in it's life the gun stock was broken thru the lock area.  The stock was repaired with a new section of wood, but the work was interrupted before the lock was installed. 

Supposing the majority of the stock is original to the gun, where do you think it was made?  And what time period?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Ron
« Last Edit: January 18, 2022, 06:29:04 PM by Ky-Flinter »
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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #12 on: January 18, 2022, 05:24:54 PM »
England, probably 1820s. Could have been flint or percusion.
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #13 on: January 18, 2022, 07:51:14 PM »
Thanks Mike.

All,
I've been searching the web but can't find a list of English gun makers or anything on A. Lenox.  Does anyone here have a book on English gun makers they could check for me.  I would be most appreciative.

Ron
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2022, 06:06:29 PM »
A friend of mine checked Der Neue Stockel and the only Lenox/Lennox listed is the Andrew Lennox listed above.  He worked in the right time period and given the lack of any English proof/makers marks on the barrel, maybe Andrew is the maker.

Ron
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Offline Shreckmeister

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2022, 11:31:46 PM »
Sweet dreams are made of these. Lol
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #16 on: January 20, 2022, 12:06:50 AM »
Hahahaha!  You're right, Shreck, but I did say maybe.  Too bad the reference books show our Pittsburg guy's last name with 2 N's and the only gun I've seen attributed to him is only signed with "A. L." in script.

Seriously, if anyone has any info on another A. Lenox/Lennox please share it with me.  Thanks,

Ron
« Last Edit: January 20, 2022, 12:30:18 AM by Ky-Flinter »
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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #17 on: January 20, 2022, 01:25:28 AM »
Hahahaha!  You're right, Shreck, but I did say maybe.  Too bad the reference books show our Pittsburg guy's last name with 2 N's and the only gun I've seen attributed to him is only signed with "A. L." in script.

Seriously, if anyone has any info on another A. Lenox/Lennox please share it with me.  Thanks,

Ron
I'm guessing it's a Birmingham gun.
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Offline Daryl

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #18 on: January 20, 2022, 10:39:39 PM »
Appears British to me, too.
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Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #19 on: January 21, 2022, 05:34:52 PM »
We're the barrels of British guns sometimes not stamped with proof and/or makers marks?

Ron
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Offline Mike Brooks

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #20 on: January 21, 2022, 07:08:09 PM »
We're the barrels of British guns sometimes not stamped with proof and/or makers marks?

Ron
Outside of London, on occasion. There were penalties for dodging the proof houses.
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Say, any of you boys smithies? Or, if not smithies per se, were you otherwise trained in the metallurgic arts before straitened circumstances forced you into a life of aimless wanderin'?

Offline Ky-Flinter

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Re: Gun maker A. Lenox? - Pictures Added
« Reply #21 on: April 08, 2022, 11:35:39 PM »
Just an update on my A. Lenox enigma. 

I contacted the University of Kentucky Forestry Department and they tested the stock wood for me.  The butt and forearm sections are English walnut and the replaced center section is American black walnut.

I did some research on English barrel proofing requirements and found that prior to 1813 proofing and marking was not required for barrels made in Birmingham.  Although some Birmingham barrel makers did mark their work, it is not known whether these marks indicate proofing, or are just the maker's mark.  Proofing of London made barrels was required beginning in 1637.  Maybe this accounts for the lack of markings on my barrel.

I still haven't found anything on an English maker named A. Lenox.

Ron
« Last Edit: April 09, 2022, 09:47:31 PM by Ky-Flinter »
Ron Winfield

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