Van Wart & Son Belt Hook Pistol / SOLD
Beautiful Southern Flavor Large Bore Percussion Belt Hook Pistol signed Van Wart.
A superb silver mounted, percussion pistol. Roughly 9 inches overall length. Barrel length 4 ½ inches, bore is .50 caliber. Has classy belt hook on the side giving it a maritime flavor. Shades of Rhett Butler and the Maritime Runners. Very good condition.
Henry Van Wart (1784 – 1873), was an American businessman who became a British Citizen by special act of Parliament. He founded the Birmingham Stock Exchange and had four children. He set up a profitable business in Birmingham exporting the city’s goods to America, largely to the South. Van Wart was friends with Louisiana businessman Frederick W. Tilton, who became Van Wart’s agent in New Orleans. He sold thousands of buttons to the Confederacy. The buttons were intended to come south through the blockage, but it is uncertain if any arrived before the end of the war. This strikingly handsome pistol also bears his firm name. Quite possibly sent to New Orleans or Charleston just prior to, or early in the Civil War.
Inventory Number: HAN 148 / SOLD