Thoughts on the Kentucky rifle in its golden age (Longrifle series)

Mr. Kindig's thoughts concern American flintlock rifles as works of art and this book is a grand display of this art. His thesis is that the gunsmiths who made these rifles were the finest artisans who worked in early America. He provdes this by showing detailed photos of 262 of the finest pieces from his famous collection. Flintlock rifles were produced chiefly along the Appalachian piedmont from the eastern border of Pennsylvania to South Carolina. From locality to locality within this region distinctly different artistic details were used to decorate the rifles, and distintcly different styles of stock architecture and metal mountains were used. Kindig's study is the first to recognize the existence of these many schools of gun-smithing and to show the importance of them to the study of the rifle and its art. Lancaster County, Pa., rifles, it may be seen, frequently have a daisy-like flower as a motif on the patchbox. In contrast, a flower with four pointed petals frequently was used in York Count. The art of the longrifle is basically rococo art, but on this rifle it becomes American rococo, far removed in both time and place from the rococo of Europe. No field of American antiques holds as much fine and varied rococo art as does the longrifle. And this is the book which it can be seen and studied.