Coins as in inlay

[Chris In SE PA]

Has anyone ever seen a build that used coins as inlays? I'm thinking about using dimes as the escutcheons around where the barrel pins go through.

 

[Treestalker]

Has anyone ever seen a build that used coins as inlays? I'm thinking about using dimes as the escutcheons around where the barrel pins go through.

I have used old silver U.S. and Mexican coins as metal for making inlays; the Mexican coins have a little less silver, and the finished inlays have an old timey look; not as 'bright' as U.S. coin silver. I have not used a coin as an inlay itself. I have a repro coin with T. Jefferson that looks like a 'peace' coin that was given to Native tribesmen, which I'm tempted to inlay as is on a trade gun. Some Southern makers used coin sections (like halves) as inlays; I believe Ian Pratt has used this technique on some of his longrifles.

 

[Norman Brooks]

Coin silver was used back in the day. Make sure you use silver coins and not clad ones, ebay is a good place to look for silver coins...

 

[Dave Dworshak]

You can use a new coin for the year your stock was made.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I guess sit depends if you plan to use whole dimes or cut the silver out of them to make escutcheons.

Just my opinion and not worth much but whole coins would look awful and is probably why we never see original rifles with coins inlayed for escutcheons.

This topic reminds me of a young builder that loved his grandmother and wanted to make a tribute to her in his flintlock rifle build. He inlayed a subway token into the side of his guns wrist that was from the same date as her birth. He was real proud of it but it looked like....... well you know the word.

 

[OLUT]

Chris, What you use for inlays, escutcheons, etc is a matter of personal taste. If it is your gun and the coin has personal significance, then build your gun to meet your desire. I have never seen an original gun with coin escutcheons. Silver from coins and other sources make nice raw material ( used to make silver front sights from old army marksmanship medals way back when they were silver). I have occasionally seen original guns with coins and tokens used as inlays, but they do not look good to me. Here's an example from the late 1860's to demonstrate my point

 

[PhDBrewer]

I just purchased this Kentucky rifle from a member here. Some might feel that the "folklore" style is part of the heritage of this particular rifle. People like to customize their belongings. It is an expression of the owner. I was glad to see that the "coins" were only tacked on and will be easily removed.
Is this how you would use coins in your design?

 

[Chris In SE PA]

@p

I just purchased this Kentucky rifle from a member here. Some might feel that the "folklore" style is part of the heritage of this particular rifle. People like to customize their belongings. It is an expression of the owner. I was glad to see that the "coins" were only tacked on and will be easily removed.
Is this how you would use coins in your design?

Uggg. Of God no. That's enough to make one squeamish.

 

[PhDBrewer]

Was a wall hanger...
The ramrod is 6" short. Killed my plans to shoot it. Went to hardware store and bought a dowel... I should post about it with pictures...

 

[user 48702]

When I was a kid, my uncle used to take an elderly friend of his squirrel hunting with us. Since it looked like it might rain, Uncle John asked Mr. Churchill what gun he was going to use? He said he was going to take his old Morgan shotgun. When I told him I'd never heard of a Morgan, Mr. Churchill flipped the shotgun over where he showed me a Morgan silver dollar he had inlet into the side of the stock. When I asked him why he had mounted the dollar in the side of the stock, he said son, many years ago I got tired of hearing my hunting buddies tell me that this old J.C. Higgins shotgun wouldn't shoot and wasn't worth a dime, so I put this dollar in the stock that way I would always know it was worth at least a dollar. Mr. Churchill was a well to do man and collected Browning shotguns and Case pocket knives, but just liked to aggravate his friends with Ol' Morgan.

 

[flntlokr]

I bought a Seneca that someone had set a silver dollar behind the cheekpiece. Looked like they did the carving with a dull axe, and as the surface was curved, the dollar was in pretty deeply. I was fixing the gun up for a friend who needs a light rifle, but I couldn't give it to her like it was, so I pulled out the dollar, and replaced it with a rosy cross in silver. Because of the huge excavation beneath it, the inletting is pretty rustic, but it looks a lot better than it did IMHO.

 

[Lfpdlt]

I have an 1873 silver dime inlet into the pistol grip cap of my 1873 Winchester, and it is only visible if you flip the rifle over. I would not do it on a muzzleloader.

 

[flashpoint]

Just my 2 cents, but I feel that inletting a coin(s) would drawl more attention to the coin than the gun. So I would think the coin should have some special or unique relationship to the gun itself if it is going to be the star of the party. If you have a gun from the Alamo and a coin from Crockett's pocket, then it makes cents.

 

[PhDBrewer]

Coins seem popular as a fix for problems..
https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/so-what-do-we-have-here.138716/Coins also were a common "precious" metal which has detail "engraving" on them. A piece of "bling" ready to go.

 

[Col. Batguano]

I've felt that if you could cut it out accurately, and bend it just right, the liberty bell from the reverse of a Franklin Half-Dollar would make a very interesting insert, particularly if you could preserve the relief in the coin.

 

[PhDBrewer]

Were peace tokens/medals ever inlaid?
I remember seeing some inlaid into buttocks somewhere.
https://www.antiquetrader.com/colle...use-an-old-custom-in-attempt-at-lasting-peace
~William

 

[Sidney Smith]

Not an inlay, but I made a front sight out of a dime and a penny. Didn't seem to look right on the gun I was building at the time so I didn't use it.

 

[Rudyard]

I believe only old silver coins are' silver' at all , no' German silver' or similar looks right . . Some modern ' Gold 'coins have a content that is good and looks good if used for say a whrist Escution . .If legaly it was & probably still is an offence to deface the coinage even 'Two Up' players got lumbered with that . Tastes differ.I was reminded once by a Florist that there is No' bad taste ' it being up to the beholder , I allways remembered that . What you can fake is the inset Platinum in a breach plug " makers name" escutchion Some alluminium will work just fine well if you in the habit of sinking the square or shaped inlet & have a suitable punch made it is.
Rudyard

 

[Erwan]

Tastes differ.I was reminded once by a Florist that there is No' bad taste ' it being up to the beholder , I allways remembered that .

​

 

[Chris In SE PA]

I was thinking about using dimes, or possibly 1/2 dimes, as the escutcheons surrounding the barrel pins.