Guns International #: 102947141
Seller's Inventory #: 247417

Category - Derringer Antique - Antique Pistols - Percussion

Category
Derringer Antique
Antique Pistols - Percussion

ENGRAVED & SILVER Mounted Antique DERINGER Percussion Pistol KILLED LINCOLN

Description:
ENGRAVED & SILVER Mounted Antique DERINGER Percussion Pistol KILLED LINCOLN
Henry Deringer’s Famous Pocket Pistol GERMAN SILVER
Here we present an antique Henry Deringer Percussion Pocket Pistol, made circa the 1850s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. President Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed with one of Henry Deringer’s pocket sized percussion pistols, the night John Wilkes Booth revenged the South at the Ford Theater. Henry Deringer was a very successful Pennsylvanian gunsmith who started his own company in his early twenties, circa 1809. It was not until the 1850s that his prototypical “Deringer” percussion pistol became extremely popular. Once it did become popular, the basic design was copied in dozens of different shops. Not only was it copied, but Deringer’s good name was stamped on guns made by others, some of them not up to the quality standards of Deringer himself. The inventor was apparently very worried about protecting his good name, so he pursued and sued any of the counterfeiters that he could find and warned the buying public to beware of his spurious imitators.
The name “Deringer” often invokes certain historical event, characters or moments in film. Deringer’s name has become both a noun and a catch-all term. President Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed with one of Henry Deringer’s pocket sized percussion pistols, the night John Wilkes Booth revenged the South at the Ford Theater. They conjure images of the California Gold Rush, as well as riverboat gamblers. These pistols were very practical for the time, being small and concealable and of large bore size.
The Civil War brought new technology to weapons and when sales of the Deringer pistol declined, Henry turned to the courts to defend his trademark.  Suits were brought against several of the imitators, but it was his successful 1863-70 case against A. J. Plate that set patent infringement history.  A District court awarded Deringer $1,770 in damages and issued a permanent injunction against Plate's use of the Deringer trademark. On appeal the California supreme court upheld the verdict.
Here is what Charles Edwin Chapel had to say about the Deringer pistol:
“For a man in a tight spot, with an armed enemy only a few feet away, a pair of single-shot Deringer pistols was more effective than the multi-shot pepperbox. You either got your man at the first or second shot—if, indeed, you were given the chance to fire twice—or you got a fast funeral. That heavy-calibered little gun was a man-stopper at short range, an effective surprise weapon, an “equalizer” with which many a gold-camp David permanently tamed the muscle-bulging, belligerent Goliaths of the frontier. Included in a man’s personal arsenal, the pistol was carried either as a principal weapon or as a reserve to be used when revolver, pepperbox or Bowie knife failed.”
This pistol has all the typical Henry Deringer style markings including a sunburst “P” on the left side of the breech and "DERINGER PHILADEL’A” on the lock plate and the top of the breech.
The overall condition is very good. Original finishes and patina. The action is excellent. The bore is dim with good rifling. The stock is solid throughout. Very nice German Silver décor throughout.
Own the original! This is a legitimate antique and not a reproduction.
Barrel is 3 inches.
Caliber: .45 Percussion
Overall condition as seen in photos.        
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ancestryguns
$2600
#247417
 

Price: $2,600.00                     Buy Now

Antique: Yes