Flintlock long rifle by Melchoir Fordney has a 44-inch octagonal rifled barrel, 44 caliber, with tooling & brass insets has "M Fordney" on top near lock. Elaborately relief-carved full-length curly maple stock has engraved mounts: side plate (w/ squared ends), trigger guard (few did this), butt plate, muzzle cap and rear ramrod pipes. Cheek side of stock has a silver inlaid double eagle; engraved oval silver plate on top of stock behind lock. Engraved brass patch box with horse head terminal is of the later Lancaster type due to exposed wood between lid and upper & lower plates. Hickory ramrod.
The top of the barrel is signed "M Fordney" in script. The engraved lock is marked "DREPPERD", a lock used by many Lancaster gunmakers. See NOTES.
Trigger and lock rusted. Minor wear on wood and brass. Long crack in stock under barrel has amateur glue repair (seen when ramrod removed).
Object ID
P.77.04
Notes
See:
The PA-Kentucky Rifle, Kauffman, pp. 229-231.
Joe Kindig, Jr., Thoughts on the Kentucky Rifle..., pp. 130 ff. (this rifle on p. 136).
Reprint of Lancaster Examiner and Herald, Wed, Oct. 21, 1846; 1847 "Report of the Trial & Conviction of John Haggerty..."
H.J. Kauffman writes Fordney was 1st listed as a gunmaker on Lancaster Borough's tax lists in 1813 (an 1846 news article states 1811 and gives his genealogy). His shop was in the 5th block of So. Queen where he worked until his tragic death in 1846 at the hands of an axe-wielding neighbor. Fordney created guns in a unique style with old-style carving and engraved patterns that were "cut deeply and profusely," comparable to some of the best in Pa.
Kindig notes Fordney was first listed as a gunmaker on tax list of 1811 in Lancaster. In 1835 he and his wife agreed to separate and in 1839 he sold his home on S. Queen St. While apparently living elsewhere in town in 1846, his death occurred at the hands of a neighbor, John Haggerty, a religious fanatic who was incensed because Fordney was living with a common-law wife. He attacked Fordney outside, then inside, his gun shop, killing him with blows to the head with an axe.
Kindig states Fordney was one of the finest Lancaster gunsmiths, making "distinctive rifles that are particularly outstanding for their engraving." He likely engraved "more extensively" than any other gunmakers during the Golden Age; he was one of a few who engraved the trigger guard. HJ Kauffman notes his wood carving is also exceptional.
This was one of four guns stolen from a wall case Aug. 17, 2000 by workmen in the Masonic Lodge, but later recovered.
Place of Origin
Lancaster
Credit
Gift of the James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
