Derringer Single Shot Pistol

Derringer Single Shot Pistol - Inventory Number: HAN 313

The famous Henry Derringer style single shot pistol, which was immortalized in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This example with its walnut stock and silver inlay is one of the many varieties which were produced which were produced in both north and south. The pistol features a silver engraved trigger guard and inlayed escutcheon plate. Standard hand-engraved scrollwork decorates the tang, lockplate, and hammer. German silver mountings for the wedge plates, trigger guard, trigger guard escutcheon, buttplate, bolster plate and forend guard, most of which are delicately engraved with fine scrollwork. A plain, German silver shield device is inlaid in the stock behind the tang. The original nipple is in good condition and the action functions on all positions. A very handsome trademark Deringer-manufactured pocket pistol.

These weapons were considered the favorite handgun of American civilians in the early 1850s. They were high quality, large caliber, percussion, single-shot, muzzle loading pocket pistols and were produced by the Philadelphia firearms maker Henry Deringer.  In the mid-1840s through the early 1850s, Henry Deringer progressed to make smaller versions of his dueling pistols along with small and medium-sized, concealable pocket pistols for the civilian trade.  The lightweight and small size attributes of the pistol gained popularity over bulkier arms and helped lead to Deringer’s success in the personal defense firearms market. In fact, it was one of Deringer’s pocket pistols that was used in the assassination of President Lincoln at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865. This infamous act would forever assign notoriety to the Deringer pistol in the American mindset.

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Inventory Number: HAN 313