I am very familiar with Tom Pike, bid against him a couple of times at auctions...if he wanted a rifle, you could never outbid him at a live auction...he just kept outbidding you. He had a golden age Cumberland, MD, flintlock rifle made by George Rizer (trainer of Jacob Rizer of KY) that I tried to buy a couple of times, but no luck. I've been an AOLRC member for many years, enjoy the Ohio guys, and have handled a number of Ohio guns over the yearsl...particularly Humbarger rifles which I have helped get back to Humbarger family members in Ohio. As to the lock on the posted rifle, it came from the large shop of Moses Dickson in Louisville. Dickson was perhaps Louisville's finest late flint/early percussion gunsmith, later worked with James Gilmore, and made very high quality firearms. He also imported much of his hardware from back east, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, etc., shipped down the Ohio River to Louisville. He not only ran perhaps the largest gun store in Louisville, but also sold gunsmith supplies to many local gunsmiths...including this lock plate. I have a dated 1837 Bardstown rifle by Rizer with a "M. Dickson" lock in it. Dickson's shop sold quality goods, so quality gunmakers bought many of their parts there, particularly in the percusison years...thus you see his locks on Rizer rifles, and other good KY guns. Dickson began working in Louisville about 1821, and continued working until his death in December of 1863. About 1835 James J. Gilmore joined his firm, and there are Dickson & Gilmore rifles out there, but also individually signed guns by both men during their partnership period. Both were top quality makers. While unproven, I strongly suspect that Gilmore was an early apprentice of Dickson, and stayed on to work as a partner. In later years, it appears that Dickson spent more time growing his business into a large gun and hardware store, and Gilmore spent most of his time overseeing the building of the Dickson & Gilmore guns they sold...along with imported English guns which they stamped with their mark before re-selling in their shop.
7centsworth...since your friend exposed his rifle on this site, he will be contacted by interested parties. He needs to know that he must get multiple opinions as to the value of his rifle if he ever decides to sell/move the gun...never take a single appraisal as gospel. Different "experts" vaule guns differently, so he needs different opinions to know its true value. I am always glad to appraise a KY-made gun, which I have specialized in for many years, if the owner contacts me privately off line by e-mail at sgallien@comcast.net. He has a decent rifle by a good maker, so he needs to be careful with it. But to appraise it, we must see the back side as well as the front, know of any damage or alterations, barrel lenght and bore size, etc. Shelby Gallien
