A pair of converted flintlock pistols, circa 1760 by Joseph Griffin, of London (active 1740 - 1785). Likely converted sometime around 1820. Joseph Griffin, born in 1726 was in business as a gunmaker from about 1750. He was appointed Gentleman Armourer to His Majesty’s Stables in Ordinary (George II) in 1760. Sufficient examples of Griffin’s work have survived to show that he (and later with his partner, John Tow) produced a considerable number of high quality firearms for both the Monarchy and the British aristocracy. Griffin died in 1783.
These box lock pistols have round tapered cannon barrels flaring at the muzzle , Walnut grips with sterling silver grotesque mask on grip butt and silver escutcheon. The pistols are finely engraved throughout with proof stamps on the underside of the barrels, silver hallmarks on the grip cap.
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A rare brass Napoleonic period naval Flintlock Blunderbuss Officer's pistol. circa 1770-1800. The brass barrel at the muzzle swelling out to a size of 1 inch. The 6 inch brass barrel fitted underneath with a folding bayonet. Probably made in Liege Circa 1770-1800. Decorative engraving to the sides of brass frame. Silver wire inlay in panels to the wooden flat sided grip. Iron trigger guard which slides to release the spring loaded folding bayonet. Sliding top safety. Very good condition. An excellent example of the type of weapon carried by a naval officer during the period of the American Revolutionary wars as well as the Napoleonic era.
oldguns.ca, virtual museum collection.
01/15
These pistols were referred to as "man stoppers", their large bores and short barrels were designed for one thing only, and that was not target shooting. If you could get to your pistol and manage to point it at your target, it would certainly complete the task once the trigger was pulled.
This is an unnamed British pistol with a very large bore, it is in very good condition as can be viewed in the pictures. Circa 1830-1865.
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Hopkins & Allen Manufacturing Co. of Norwich, Connecticut, was a major manufacturer of rifles, shotguns, and inexpensive cartridge handguns between 1868 and 1915. Hopkins & Allen purchased the assets of the Bacon Manufacturing Company when that firm ceased operations in 1868, a victim of declining government arms purchases after the end of the Civil War. Bacon employees Colonel Charles A. Converse and Samuel S. Hopkins, charged with carrying out the sale of their company, found that the post-war recession made the sale of the firm as difficult as it had been to find buyers for Bacon firearms. Instead, they recruited Horace A. Briggs, Bacon Manufacturing's owner, as well as Samuel Hopkins' brother Charles, and Charles H. Allen as business partners.
After an investment of $1000 each, the new company, Hopkins & Allen Manufacturing Co., began operations as a producer of firearms, machinery, tools, and hardware. Officers included the initial investors-stockholders, with Briggs serving as president, Charles Hopkins as secretary, Converse as treasurer, and Samuel Hopkins and Charles Allen, directors. Shortly after the establishment of the company, Henry H. Hopkins, elder brother of Charles and Samuel, became superintendent of Hopkins & Allen, a position which he held for nearly a decade. As were those of Bacon Manufacturing, Hopkins & Allen's production facilities were located in Norwich. With a workforce of 30, H & A began to turn out five-shot .31 caliber percussion revolvers that were essentially identical to those previously manufactured by Bacon.
The firm was initially prohibited from manufacturing cartridge revolvers using Rollin White's patent for bored-through cylinders, on which Smith & Wesson held exclusive rights. After the expiration of this patent, Hopkins & Allen began converting their percussion revolvers to accept cartridge ammunition. In addition, a line of spur-trigger cartridge revolvers in .22 rimfire and .32 rimfire calibers was introduced. Many of Hopkins & Allen revolvers were sold to distributors under trade names including Blue Jacket, Mountain Eagle, Ranger, and others.
The 1870s brought a period of expansion for H & A. It also marked the beginning of an association between Hopkins & Allen and Merwin-Hulbert & Co. Merwin-Hulbert became H & A's sales representative in 1871, and ties between the two companies were strengthened in 1874, when Charles A. Converse elected to leave the business, selling his shares to Merwin-Hulbert. By mid-decade, H & A had begun to manufacture Merwin-Hulbert Automatic Revolvers under the supervision of Joseph Merwin. In addition to overseeing production, Merwin continued his experimentation with new designs in a section of the Hopkins & Allen plant.
By the late 1870s, Hopkins & Allen's sales had grown to the point that the company relocated to larger facilities in Norwich. H & A's product line also expanded to include the XL Army, XL Navy, and XL police models. These larger six-shot revolvers were available in .44-40 centre fire, .44 rimfire, and .38 rimfire calibers and featured barrel lengths of 4 ? to 7 ? inches. After purchasing Bay State Arms Company in 1878, Hopkins & Allen began production of falling block rifles and tip-up shotguns. The acquisition of Bay State brought with it William H. Davenport's patent for the production of high quality rifle barrels. William Davenport, Bay State's founder, remained with Hopkins & Allen until 1890, when he formed the W. H. Davenport Firearms Company.
By 1907, Davenport's fortunes were in decline, and Hopkins & Allen purchased this firm as well. In 1896, Merwin, Hulbert & Co. failed, sending shockwaves through H & A. The Norwich arms maker suffered a $90,000 loss, a small percentage of which was later recovered in bankruptcy proceedings. In addition, Hopkins & Allen was left without an outlet for sales and customer relations.
The company struggled to remain in business until 1898, when new management elected new officers and reorganized the firm as the Hopkins & Allen Arms Company of Norwich, Connecticut. The Hopkins brothers and Charles Allen continued, but their ownership stake had been reduced to 15 percent. In addition to their line of pistols, rifles, and shotguns, H & A had also manufactured tools and bicycles, but the firm's new management dropped these products and focused solely on firearms production. Less successful firearms, including some medium-frame rifles and all Merwin-Hulbert pistols were dropped as well. By the turn of the century, Hopkins & Allen was again profitable, and the company's products included single-shot shotguns and rifles, as well as a variety of revolvers. The company's return to profitability was not uneventful.
In the early hours of February 4, 1900, a fire of undetermined origin swept through the Hopkins & Allen factory, destroying the factory and most of its contents, including machinery, blueprints, records, parts, and completed firearms that had been awaiting shipment. H & A management began to salvage what they could while plans to rebuild the ravaged factory were prepared. By stroke of luck or fate, the Forehand Firearms Company of Worcester, Massachusetts was offered for sale by heirs of Sullivan Forehand, and Hopkins & Allen agreed to purchase the firm.
In addition to its firearms line, Forehand's manufacturing facilities included machinery and tools that were in excellent condition. H & A's production was consolidated with that of Forehand & Wadsworth at the latter's factory until the Hopkins & Allen plant could be rebuilt. As sections of the new H & A factory were completed, Forehand's machinery was transported from Worcester to Norwich during the night and set up in time for the next day's production to resume. In this way, the company was able to remain in business until H & A's new facilities were completed in 1902.
From its meagre beginnings, Hopkins & Allen had grown from a small shop with 30 employees to a major producer of firearms and employer of 600 workers in a new multi-story factory. In a state known for firearms production, H & A. ranked third behind Colt and Winchester. Hopkins & Allen continued to manufacture a variety of revolvers and small arms until 1915, when commercial production ended and the company began to manufacture Mauser Model 1898 rifles for the government of Belgium. Rising costs forced the company into bankruptcy in 1917, and the U.S. Army Ordnance Department and Marlin Firearms took over H & A's factory for the production of Browning Automatic Rifles. Marlin purchased the assets of Hopkins & Allen in 1921.
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01/17
This is a nicely engraved revolver in 30 rim fire cartridge, that was obviously based on the “sheath-trigger" designs of William Tranter, but does not incorporate Tranter’s patent side plate or bottom-hinged loading gate. I believe this pistol to be manufactured by Williamson and Brothers, London, circa 1867 - 1868.
oldguns.ca, virtual museum collection.
01/27
The Luger or Parabellum pistol is perhaps one of the most recognizable semi-automatics in history. A veteran of two world wars, these workhorses served on land, sea, and air, and were a prized war trophy for returning Doughboys and G.I.s. In addition to German Imperial and Nazi military models, Lugers were also manufactured for police and civilian sales, and many were also produced under contract for other nations in Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Post-war versions were also manufactured by German firms Mauser and Erma, and by Mitchell Arms and Stoeger.
These pistols also employed a coiled mainspring instead of the leaf spring featured on earlier models, a round-topped bolt, and a change in toggle design that allowed it to be lifted rather than pulled rearward. The commercial M06 Luger included a rearward-operating safety lever, and a breech stop that held the action open after the last round in the magazine had been fired. The P08 is undoubtedly the most famous of all Luger pistols. They became the standard German military sidearm in 1908, a distinction they held until the adoption of the Walther P38 prior to the Second World War.
P08 production continued until 1943, and they remained popular with many German troops. Thousands of P08 Lugers were manufactured by Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabrik, the successor to Ludwig, Loewe, and at Koniglich Preussische Gewehrfabrik at Erfurt in Thuringen. The P08 lacks the grip safety common to earlier versions, but are in other ways virtually identical to their predecessors. A Naval version with a 5 ?-inch barrel and dual-range rear sights was also introduced, and this was followed in 1917 with an Artillery Model featuring a 7 -inch barrel and a rear sight graduated for use up to 800 meters. Some Artillery Models were issued with 32-round drum magazines and wood shoulder stocks for use by NCOs and shock troops. In addition to German military and commercial production, P08s were produced for Bulgaria, Russia, Turkey, Persia, Venezuela, Abyssinia, Roumania, and Switzerland prior to the outbreak of war in 1914.
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany's military was severely restricted in size, and armament production was limited as well to 1000 guns per year. Many German arms were confiscated and destroyed or re-issued by the Allies to friendly nations. While the P08 remained the sidearm of the Reichswehr and Germany's police forces, many surviving Lugers were remanufactured to 7.65mm models, and most new production examples were intended for export. The Vickers Co. of Birmingham, England also produced P08 pistols during this period, as did the Swiss firm Waffenfabrik Bern. While known in Europe as the Parabellum, the term "Luger" became commonplace in the 1920s, when many P08s were produced for sale in the United States. The Luger name was recognizable among American veterans of the Great War, and New York City importer A. F. Stoeger patented the name as an aid to sales in the U.S. Luger pistols also had a pre-war connection to the United States. A very few M06 pistols were produced in .45 ACP caliber for testing and evaluation by the U.S. Army in 1907. This design was not adopted, and only three of these rare guns are known to exist today. Other Lugers were produced for U.S. commercial sales prior to the First World War. These guns, termed "American Eagle", bore the U.S. eagle crest on their receiver tops. Although manufacture of arms was limited in Weimar Germany, some clandestine production took place in violation of the Armistice. After Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, German rearmament began in earnest. The Mauser Werke factory in Oberndorf took over the manufacture of the P08 in 1934, with additional examples produced for the Luftwaffe by Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik of Suhl. During the interwar years, machinery from the armory at Erfurt had been acquired by Jewish-owned Simson & Co. for use in foreign P08 production. This equipment was confiscated by the Nazis and sold to Krieghoff. Initial production arms were stamped with manufacturer's names and , but, citing security concerns, arms produced after 1938 bore only a code to identify maker and year of manufacture. After the initial needs of Germany's remilitarization had been met, production reverted exclusively to Mauser until P08 production was discontinued in 1943. Limited production was undertaken by both Mauser and Krieghoff immediately after the war, when a few hundred guns were manufactured under Allied supervision. These guns were intended as presentation models.
oldguns.ca virtual museum collection.