This early Rev War or possibly
pre Rev war rifle was recently acquired at auction. It is a
lovely piece of Americana, and has special significance in that it is a
half antique, half contemporary rifle!
The history and specs of the rifle is documented in
Shumway's " Rifles of Colonial America Vol 2" Robert Ditchburn acquired the rifle c. 1960's. It was in
poor condition having been left outside for years.
The fore- stock was nearly gone, the lock, and side plate both missing.
Fortunately, the section from the rear
thimble to the butt had survived relatively intact. Ditchburn made a wonderful new fore-stock, nose cap, thimbles, and side plate, and
assembled a new flintlock to fit the mortice.
When I acquired the rifle I found a note and a sliver of wood inside the
patchbox.
The note was from Ditchburn and
it reads:
"This piece retrieved
from forestock of J. Baum rifle
Do not destroy - it is the
proof that forestock was
moulded and restoration is correct R.
Ditchburn"
In the decades of the 1940's-70's
many American longrifles underwent reconversions back to flintlock and areas of wood and other needed parts repaired
or replaced. I use the term replaced, because the general approach then was to fix what was needed but not to
"historically restore" guns back to
an original state. When Ditchburn replaced the fore-stock, he refinished and
recolored the entire rifle and it is a magnificent job... but the lock and
side plate still needed a complete" historical" face lift. The side
plate had a few engraved lines which seemed somehow out of character with the
rest of the rifle's furnishings.
After consulting with several collectors, the general
opinion was to remove the engraving, reduce the thickness, and age the side plate. This neat
work was done by Eric Von Aschwege, now a Gunsmith at Colonial Williamsburg. The
flintlock was way more challenging. Though Ditchburn made a perfect new plate,
the remainder of the parts he chose were
typical modern commerical renditions of Germanic designs. The lock had no
real historical flavor. What was needed was a 100% antique look. This was made possible by the wonderful
work of Jack Brooks. Mr. Brooks has long been interested in using and producing castings from antique originals. For this
project Jack choose parts from an original Bonewitz flintlock. He replaced
the Cock, frizzen, frizzen spring, and reshaped the pan. Then the lock was
fully re aged and colored. The result is the rifle now has the overall
look of an original... unaltered piece.
Ditchburn note (found in patchbox)
Before restoration
Before restoration
Jack Brooks photo
Jack Brooks photo
Jack Brooks photo
That's a beautiful rifle. Note the aging around the Patchbox screws where when it was published that area was left untouched as well as the deep tarnish in the trigger guard filings. It would do it justice to repeat this process around the side plate screws. thanks for sharing this rifle I really enjoyed seeing it
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful rifle! I so love these smoke poles, and the history behind them :)
ReplyDelete