CASED JOHN MANTON POCKET PISTOLS £4,750.00

A CASED MARLIN NO. 32 STANDARD 1875 (.32 CALIBRE) RETAILED BY SCHUYLER, HARTLEY AND GRAHAM COMPLETE WITH RETAILERS CATALOGUE

This is a Marlin No. 32 (.32 calibre) Standard 1875 single action 5 shot pocket tip-up revolver, serial number 9372 (matching cylinder) made between 1875–1887. Length overall 7.25 inches with a round rifled 3 inch barrel and a raised sighting rib stamped ‘No. 32 Standard 1875’.  Left side of barrel stamped “J.M. Marlin, New Haven, CT. U.S.A. Pat. July.1.1873".  Hinge up barrel (press ‘button’ and pull upwards) with fixed ejector arbour below.  Frame retains 95% original nickel plating with excellent grips retaining 95% original varnish. Mechanically excellent. Complete in its original blue velvet lined ebony banded mahogany case with lidded compartment, suppliers original trade label and key. Case and lining in fine condition. Rare to find a cased example, these small tip-up revolvers have become increasingly collectable in this condition. Comes complete with a Flayderman 1972 reprint of the original period catalogue for the retailer which contains a wealth of information.

Notes:

The suppliers label is Shuyler, Hartley and Graham of 19 Maiden Lane and 22 John Street, New York. Marcellus Hartley founded the company in 1860 and through a series of acquisitions quickly became one of the largest sporting goods/arms companies in the world. By the time of the Civil War they were the largest in the USA. In 1867, two years after the Civil War ended, Shuyler Hartley and Graham purchased two small New England cartridge companies and amalgamated them at a new Connecticut site calling the company  the Union Metallic Cartridge Co., now world famous for their many innovations. In March 1888, Marcellus Hartley required E. Remington and Sons and re-organised it, renaming the new company the Remington Arms company.

However there was a secret side to Marcellus Hartley as he was employed on detachment to England directly by the War Department in Washington as a U.S. government agent during the Civil War using his company as a front for direct U.S. government purchases of highly regarded English Enfield rifles and other European weapons. With a drastic shortage of weapons during the Civil War, deposits were made directly from the U.S. Treasury to Hartley’s company account at Barings Bank in London. His involvement with the Union was so sensitive and secret that it sometimes caused complications. On one occasion Hartley was outbid at the last minute on a contract for over 100,000 No. 2  Enfields, being outbid by Naylor & Vickers of London & Sheffield, the English arm of Naylor & Co. of New York. Naylor was retained by P.H. Watson, Assistant Secretary of War in the U.S. War Department who must have known of Hartley’s involvement but he nevertheless supported the Naylor bid. Effectively the U.S. War Department outbid themselves for 110,140 Enfields!

On another occasion, Hartleys attempt to purchase the entire production of London Armoury Company (LAC) No. 1 best quality Enfields was foiled by the Confederate agent, Caleb Huse. Sadly, this Confederate contract led to the demise of the London Armoury Company as most of the money was paid in the form of cotton bonds (as sound as gold up to 1865) deliverable at some future date. With the downfall of the Confederacy the millions of dollars in cotton bonds became worthless and the LAC did not recover. 

The price includes UK mainland delivery. No licence is required to possess this item in the UK if owned as a curio as part of a collection or display.

VERY FINE CASED PAIR OF 120 BORE CESSIER PATENT UNDER HAMMER POCKET PISTOLS BY J B CESSIER À ST ETIENNE

Cased pair of best quality Cessier patent under hammer pocket pistols by Jean-Baptiste Cessier of St Etienne., circa 1820. 1.5" turn off 120 bore damas frisé barrels. Rounded case hardened under hammer actions with case hardened triggers and hammers. Tang signed in fine gold script ‘J Bte Cessier a St Etienne’. Dark horn grips. Pistols 6.25" overall length. Slightly later period mahogany case with close fitted blue velvet interior containing a combination barrel wrench and bullet mould. High degree of original finish remaining on both pistols. Mechanics in first class order. One pistol is in near mint unfired condition, the other has had minimal use with a small piece of horn missing on one side by the frame and the horn grip slightly distorted with age. Gold inlaid makers signature on both pistols in perfect condition with no losses. 

Jean-Baptiste Cessier (1781-1855) was apprenticed to Nicolas Noel Boutet at Versailles. The quality of his best work reflected his training. After returning home to St Etienne, Cessier continued as a Master Gunsmith producing mainly underhammer pistols of his own 1816 patent for a single trigger system. Pocket sized under hammer pistols by Cessier are extremely rare. Around 1840 he made a famous gun, now in the Museum of Art and Industry with a carved French Walnut gunstock, ‘Atlas carrying the Universe’.

The price includes UK mainland delivery. No licence is required to possess this item in the UK if owned as a curio as part of a collection or display.