I've got two other documents from the vast Irvine papers to share: here is today's. This receipt records seven rifles purchased for William Irvine's troops from the Berks County gunsmith John Kerlin:
Here's what I find interesting (please add things that you find interesting!):
1. Two of the rifles were marked "T:K," though that's hard to decipher! It vaguely looks like "T:H," which might match with the middleman who transferred funds for these rifles; or maybe it is "J.K," i.e. John Kerlin. But my friend DaveM tells me that John Kerlin's son, Thomas, was a gunsmith at this time. So it seems likely that two of the rifles that John Kerlin sold to Irvine were marked "T:K" for Thomas Kerlin.
2. The rifles are differentially priced. The ones with "raised work" (presumably carving?) and "neatly finished" are £5.2.6 each, the common rifle is £4.10.0--and the ones marked "T:K" are the most expensive at £5.15.0 each.
3. I would think that John Kerlin had all/most of these rifles on hand--it seems a big order to deliver in 10 days. Also, if he were making these in order to supply them (rather than having them on hand), he would be more likely--given what they will be used for--to make common rifles without carving and fine finish and they would all be "signed." [Speculating here.]
4. The backside of the receipt (in a different hand) prices a rifle with "carved work" at £5.0.0 and the rifles without at £4.15.0--which values the carving at 5 shillings. This is one of the only references to the carving on rifles that I can remember seeing in a period document.
5. Most basically: here are examples of signed rifles made in Reading. The next receipt that I'll post in a few days offers another instance of the same.
