Post by hawkeyes on Mar 24, 2020 10:28:11 GMT -7
Meanings and Lore of Brass Embellishments.
Many are decorated with embellishments of brass. The areas of the forestocks, cheekpieces, etc. will be seen to have decorated shapes to them incised into the stock. The majority of these are seen in brass, but many were in German Silver. Other materials were also inletted into the stocks.
So what do all these various shapes mean....?
Hunters Star...the Eight-Pointed Star:
This was without question the earliest design used on American rifles, and certainly the most popular. Stars are one of the most popular inlays or even patchbox finials, but the eight pointed version outnumbers all others. They're seem most often on the cheekpiece, sometimes as a barrel-pin escutcheon, more occasionally as a independant inlay and, rarely, in the engraved design of a patchbox. Some call it a Hunters Star, but with strong opposition from other schools of thought.
The 8-pointed star is a popular motif in Penn. Dutch folk art, in which it signifies "abundance and good will". From this source, it quite possibly derived from the "Rosenkreug" or Rose & Cross, which was a 15th century German symbol of religious freedom & private land ownership. The latter is also the emblem of the philosophic order of Rosicrucians.
Archeologists attribute the star to an ancient sun cult, to whom it meant fertility.
Religion & science (often at odds) combine forces to suggest the most interesting origins of the 8-pointed star. Legend says it is the Star of Bethlehem, and thus was used as a talisman to guide the rifleman along the proper path through life in the wilderness. Astronomers say the remarkable conjunction of Mars & Saturn in Pisces occurs once in 794 years, and that this may have a direct relationship to the star of the wise men. That "star" being abnormally bright, and could have been the two planets shining side by side. This could also account for the unusual elongation of the star, altho this most likely was just to conform to the shape of the cheekpiece or the forestock.
My personal favorite inlay and when building is usually as fancy as I'll get with a rifle. Recently this past weekend I decided to inlet one onto the cheekpiece of my current build.
Many are decorated with embellishments of brass. The areas of the forestocks, cheekpieces, etc. will be seen to have decorated shapes to them incised into the stock. The majority of these are seen in brass, but many were in German Silver. Other materials were also inletted into the stocks.
So what do all these various shapes mean....?
Hunters Star...the Eight-Pointed Star:
This was without question the earliest design used on American rifles, and certainly the most popular. Stars are one of the most popular inlays or even patchbox finials, but the eight pointed version outnumbers all others. They're seem most often on the cheekpiece, sometimes as a barrel-pin escutcheon, more occasionally as a independant inlay and, rarely, in the engraved design of a patchbox. Some call it a Hunters Star, but with strong opposition from other schools of thought.
The 8-pointed star is a popular motif in Penn. Dutch folk art, in which it signifies "abundance and good will". From this source, it quite possibly derived from the "Rosenkreug" or Rose & Cross, which was a 15th century German symbol of religious freedom & private land ownership. The latter is also the emblem of the philosophic order of Rosicrucians.
Archeologists attribute the star to an ancient sun cult, to whom it meant fertility.
Religion & science (often at odds) combine forces to suggest the most interesting origins of the 8-pointed star. Legend says it is the Star of Bethlehem, and thus was used as a talisman to guide the rifleman along the proper path through life in the wilderness. Astronomers say the remarkable conjunction of Mars & Saturn in Pisces occurs once in 794 years, and that this may have a direct relationship to the star of the wise men. That "star" being abnormally bright, and could have been the two planets shining side by side. This could also account for the unusual elongation of the star, altho this most likely was just to conform to the shape of the cheekpiece or the forestock.
My personal favorite inlay and when building is usually as fancy as I'll get with a rifle. Recently this past weekend I decided to inlet one onto the cheekpiece of my current build.