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First, I'm very sorry that I have neither the skill nor the equipment to add a photo to this inquiry. But I do hope that some of you will bear along anyway.
I recently acquired a circa-1870 albumin photo of a well-dressed, top-hatted, middle-aged man proudly displaying a single-shot of I'm guessing is his own make/invention. From the clothing, the photo originally dates circa 1855, and while my photo is therefore a copy, it is nonetheless extremely clear. And thanks to that clarity, his gun is easily described.
Were the gun not being loaded in the photo, it would likely be taken for a light, half-stocked, percussion-fired rifle or shotgun with a back-action lock, a faceted single barrel with a patent breech, and what many assume are double triggers on a Sharps Borchardt. But since it is being loaded, we know it's a break-open gun, the reversed front "trigger" apparently being the actuator. Moreover, rather than downward on a nipple, the hammer strikes slightly sideways toward the barrel's chamber or perhaps the "patent breech". Finally, I'm pretty sure that the gun is a rifle, for the man is inserting a "cartridge" - i.e., a straight, roughly 2"-long tube containing a mid-sized (say .35-.40 caliber) conical bullet - into the barrel. Unfortunately, since he is holding the cartridge's rim and since the barrel has no obvious extractor, I can only guess that the cartridge is a pin-fire, rather than a rim- or even needle-fire (or "rocket ball"-type) since the latter "cartridge" normally has no casing.
Last and in some ways least, while the photo is neatly mounted on a rectangle of photo-studio pasteboard, the only marking is "Jake Bowlby" written in pencil on the reverse.
Now, to finally get to my main point. I'm assuming that Mr. Bowlby is the man pictured rather than the photographer and I'm hoping that someone among you can help me identify him and/or his rifle.
Thanks for being persistent.
Bill Lawrence
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Jake Bowby (Read 1834 times)
