Lot 3062 Detail
Elegant Relief Carved Kentucky Rifle Attributed to John Bonewitz, Womelsdorf-Reading
School, circa 1800
.57 caliber smoothbore, 47 3/8-inch part round, part octagonal barrel, plain lock; open
sights of traditional style; brass mountings; made without patchbox; finely and elegantly
rendered raised carving on curly maple stock, primarily on left side of butt and at wrist;
single trigger; hickory ramrod. Thick butt and wide brass buttplate.
Condition: Very good. Gray patina to steel; pitting, primarily on
hammer, frizzen and barrel breech; possible old repair to hammer; refaced frizzen; stock
worn; likely replaced fore-end cap; minor slivers of wood missing; cracks on butt,
primarly left side.
Note: Of the Womelsdorf-Reading School, John Bonewitz is covered in Joe Kindig Jr.,
Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle in Its Golden Age, pages 206-211. Kindig notes: "John
Bonewitz rarely signed his rifles . . . .[he was] a top grade workman . . . ." Note
serpentine feature beneath cheekpiece; this feature noted by Kindig as so distinctive that
"the cheek piece on all of these Bonewitz guns [from Kindig's collection] could
almost be considered his 'signature'. . . ."
Estimate: $10000 - $15000
Reloading kit for pinfire cartridges (5mm,7mm, 9mm & 12mm)
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