This Flintlock Buck and Ball piece heavily resembles the designs of the early American/Pennsylvania/Kentucky long rifle with its extra long barrel, maple full stock with brass furniture, and rifle style blade front and notch rear sights. The stock has some nicely carved lines and a small cheek rest. The long smoothbore barrel and overall lightweight design would have made this fowling piece easy to carry in the field and accurate for hunting fowl with bird shot and larger game with buck shot. Brothers Robert Biddle and William Canby Biddle founded "R. & W. C. Biddle" in Philadelphia around 1837. They changed the name to Biddle Hardware Company after the Civil War. They imported and sold an array of foreign and domestic hardware, cutlery, and guns and also produced gun locks from 1847 to 1861. This fowling piece was thus likely produced by a local craftsman in the mid-19th century using a lock purchased from Biddle & Co. who either imported the lock and stamped it with their mark or produced it themselves. A wooden ramrod is included.

Good. The barrel retains a mixture of thinned brown finish and a brown patina with some corrosion at the breech. The lock has a mottle brown patina. The brass has an aged patina. The stock is very good with attractive tiger stripe patterns, some small nicks and chips, a slight crack on the left flat at the breech, some edge wear, and minor pressure marks. The action is very good, but the nipple is battered.