An historic American percussion rifle owned by early California frontiersman Seth Kinman
Old Cottonblossom
Heavy 48 inch octagonal barrel with seven groove rifling in . 68 caliber. Elephant ivory fore-sight. Breech inscribed Gave Many an Englishman the Belly ake(sic)/From off the Cotton Bails(sic) at New Orleans/Jan. the 8 1815 Old Kentuck. Long barrel tang inscribed Seth Kinman Old Cott-- B--. Double-set triggers. Scrolling triggerguard. Stock, evidently fashioned by Mr. Kinman himself, with circular patch recess in the Southern fashion. Wooden ramrod secured to stock by a leather string. Together with a cabinet photo of Seth Kinman with President Rutherford B. Hayes, documenting letter from the consignor, a direct descendent of Mr. Kinman and with a transcription of The Tales of Seth Kinman, a group of stories, or more properly tall tales in the classic mold of the period, told by Kinman to his friend G.M. Richmond and transcribed from the manuscript in the Gensoli Collection at Humboldt State University by R.H. Roberts.
Condition: Good. Metal with dark patina showing areas of pitting. Stock with numerous dents, gouges and bruises, pinned repair to left of breech and with fore-end shortened during period of use. Lock changed and buttplate added during period of use.
See Illustration