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LOT 3065
Historic Presentation, German Silver Mounted Percussion Half-Stock Rifle, Inscribed to Legendary Frontier Scout, Mountain Man and Trapper Kit Carson from His Friends
in New Mexico, on July 14th, 1852, Reportedly at the Conclusion of Their Final Hunt, with Research - NSN, 36 cal., 31 1/4 inch octagon bbl., bright/German silver finish, curly maple stock. This fine rifle bears a wear plate on the bottom of the forend that is inscribed: “PRESENTED TO KIT CARSON/BY HIS/friends in Les Vagas, N.M./JULY 14TH, 1852.” The rifle has an “R & W.C. BIDDLE & Co/ PHILADELPHIA” lock with bird hunting scene and scroll engraving. The barrel has a series of crosses around the muzzle, low profile blade and notch sights, and a breech plug with a clean out screw and vent hole in the bolster and a long tang held with three screws. The rifle has adjustable double set triggers. The stock is curly maple and has right and left hand cheek rests and all nickel-silver/German silver furniture, including “eye” shaped pin escutcheons and the noted wear plate on the forend, a spurred trigger guard, cap/patch box, a hunter’s star on the each of the cheek rests, an acorn on the bottom of the butt ahead of the toe plate, and a spread wing eagle on the left side at the butt. A small piece of paper with an “H” is adhered on the right ahead of the lock, and a newspaper clipping adhered on the left side of the butt reads “Kit Killed In Fall ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UPI) -Famed frontier scout Kit Carson, who led an often violent life, died as the result of an injury received when he fell from a horse during a campaign against the Navajos in New Mexico.”
The rifle has been identified as the work of riflemaker David Leonard in an included 2016 evaluation letter from Brian LaMaster, then President of the Kentucky Rifle Association and a nationally recognized master gunsmith. He notes that “after research and study, it is obviously the work of David Leonard of Ohio, and is an important piece of American history. Leonard worked in Mahoning County between 1825-1908. The double cheek rest, eagle inlay, cap box, and architecture, are all details found on other examples of his work.” He goes on to write, “On the Kit Carson German Silver Mounted Rifle, the wear plate inlay, located between the trigger guard and the ramrod entry pipe, is engraved with the date and town in which this rifle was presented to Kit Carson and the date of the inscription places this rifle at the peak of Leonard’s work. When compared to other engraved items of the time period, such as swords and silver trophies, the engraving pattern on the plate shows
the style and font typically used. The rifle is well constructed and mounted in German silver, which
would have made for an impressive gift.”
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