Made circa 1770-1780. 48 Caliber Smooth bore with a 41” barrel. This is an early Pre-Golden age gun with a cherry wood stock and decorated wooden patchbox. The barrel has a dark brown to dark plum colored patina. Both the lock and cock are early flat style. The patchbox appears to be incised carved with a floral design. This gun has light engraving on the trigger guard, the toe of the butt plate and the escutcheon at the wrist. In addition to the carved patchbox, there is cross hatching at the base of the ramrod flutes and most importantly the “Indian Head” design forward of the trigger guard. Much has been written about the Indian Head figure that is found on Kentucky’s. These guns are found on North Hampton county guns. The general consensus despite the name is the these carved figures found in the Kentucky rifles are not Indians after all, but instead faces with Pileus Libertatis, or Liberty caps. This seems to be the most convincing argument that these were patriotic symbols of a newly formed nation. This gun was published in the book The Kentucky Rifle by John G Dillin where he erroneously attributes this gun to an unknown Tennessee maker. There is a mountain of research to go along with this gun including letters from Steven Hench, Charles Thayer , and Walter O’Connor. There are also numerous articles by Ron Gable. This is a extremely well documented gun that has been seen by top experts. This gun was in the Klein collection, the Lince Collection and the Tom Seymor collection. This is a fantastic early, all original Kentucky Rifle! CONSIGNMENT