Carl, in line with your question about how the volume of work (good businessman versus strictly quality) may have led to much of Dickert’s market - I wonder how much he may have tapped into the western expansion market - folks travelling west, compared to other makers. Maybe word of mouth reached folks on the east coast recommending they see Dickert for your rifle on your way west. I read Lancaster was a jumping off point for kany heading west.
I also thought I read somewhere that William Henry had some very early rifle contracts with ther towns and/or folks heading west? Could be wrong about this. But, if so, maybe Dickert got involved with William Henry early on and learned his business ways? Maybe William Henry marketed / sold rifles from several makers?
This brings up, though, a question we've discussed before. How would the people to whom these rifles were sent--out west (say, Pittsburgh or the Ohio Country)--know that they were "Dickerts" unless they were
signed by Dickert? And when do we imagine Dickert began to sign the barrels of his rifles?
William Henry did not have any rifle contracts, but he did send batches of Lancaster rifles to Fort Pitt in the 1760s, I think (haven't looked this up again)--after he had left the gunmaking trade entirely and was partnered in a prosperous hardware store. I believe that he gathered rifles from several makers and sent them in batches. But if these rifles weren't signed at this time (early 1760s), how would buyers/users have learned that they were "Dickerts"?
I don't think there's any evidence that "Dickert" was known as a particularly good or reliable gunmaker before the Revolutionary War. Has anybody ever seen anything that suggested this?