Thanks PeteM,
You don't happen to have an address in Buffalo, do you?
Your info is exactly the kind of info that I was hoping to flush out....If Francis was Bohemian born, and we know that he came from a family of gunsmiths (father & brothers), it's conceivable that his family was gunsmithing in Bohemia (Czech). (Escherich is a German/Swiss name)...anyway, Amoskeag doesn't show the name Escherich or Baltimore, so we don't know if the gun was in fact produced in Baltimore, or brought from Europe...If we knew it was from Europe, it would rule out the possibility of it being American damascus...
Damascus barrel production was alive and well in Boston and New York city, it's not too far a strech to think perhaps Baltimore as well....even if someone was just reshaping Indian wootz cakes, and not actually producing the damascus...
