April 2010 Firearms (3)
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/26/2010
Circa 1800 to 1810. This highly attractive Kentucky rifle has (Henry) "Lechler" die-stamped on the 40 - 1/2" octagonal rifled barrel. Henry Lechler moved from Lancaster to Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1796 and continued his business there on into the early 19th century. Although he was a very competent gunsmith, his marked guns indicate that he frequently sub contacted other Pennsylvania gunsmiths to make rifles for him and then so marked them as his own, a commercial business practice, still in vogue today. The buttplate and patchbox style is that of the York school with a George Eister buttplate. The patchbox has a very graceful design and is finely engraved. The fine curly maple stock is all intact with five silver inlays, including a "heart" on either side of the wrist. At some point, an unknown person added some simple incised carving or attempted to "re-fresh" the existing carving. While the lock is a re-conversion, this rifle is still a highly pleasing Kentucky rifle.
Item Dimensions: Overall: 57" L.