Flintlock rifle

This rifle was made by Jacob Dickert, an accomplished gunmaker working in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. Compare the leaf and scroll stock carving and patch box style of this rifle with that of the Berks County, Pennsylvania rifle made by John Bonewitz, also in this case. Though gunmakers of the period rarely signed their pieces, this one is signed J. Dickert on the flat of the barrel. The lock was made by another craftsman and signed DREPERT. Dickert was a successful gunmaker and went on to receive contracts to make rifles and muskets for the government in the 1790s.