Philadelphia Deringer / SOLD

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.

This Deringer made pistol is a large .46 caliber specimen and is stamped “DERINGER / PHILADEL / P” around the top of the breech and “DERINGER / PHILADELA” on the lockplate. Breech plug features two thick bands of fine silver inlay. Pistol features a flat topped, 3” long octagon barrel that becomes round halfway down to the muzzle, with a nice even gray/brown patina. The pistol’s overall length is 6 ½”. This Deringer features a pleasing black walnut stock in excellent condition with sharp checkering on the grips. 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.

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Inventory Number: HAN 175 / SOLD