COTTONE AUCTIONS This Kentucky rifle belonging to the Rochester Historical Society fetched $306,000 at auction on May 8, 2021. The price is thought to be an auction record for Kentucky rifles. To the untrained eye, the Kentucky rifle the Rochester Historical Society put up for auction appeared to be nothing special. Just a scuffed up, old muzzleloader with a scraped barrel and a crack in the maple wood frame. But an inscription inside the patch box, a small compartment in the stock, suggesting it had been tested in battle during the Revolutionary War lent to its intrigue: “Taken from the British at the Battle of Monmouth June 28, 1778.”
Morphy Auctions, the Denver-based auction house, will host a historic 161-lot selection of early arms and military memorabilia on May 18. The auction includes American flintlock rifles and pistols, Revolutionary War sabers, French and Indian War powder horns and more. Bids can be made live or online via Morphy Live.
The premier lot of the May 18 auction is a historically significant Kentucky long rifle presented by the Marquis de Layfayette to his Tuscarora Iroquois guide and friend Chief Tunis â who accompanied him during the Revolutionary War and, later, led him on two dozen expeditions across 24 states.
Lafayette, a French aristocrat and military officer, played a key role in the victory of the American Revolution.