An Unmarked 8-Shot Navy Revolver, No Serial Number, circa 1860

blued round barrel with solid rib, fore-sight, blued loading-lever, eight-chambered cylinder, checkered varnished deluxe walnut grips marked with A.E. Brooks' Collection number 1710 on both sides

6-7/8 inch barrel



This robustly designed and manufactured revolver with a 8-shot cylinder is a rare example of American handgun manufacture and design in the 19th-century.



 

Abel E. Brooks, Collection, Hartford, Connecticut 

U.S. Cartridge Company

William M. Locke 

A. E. Brooks ed, Illustrated Catalogue of the A. E. Brooks Collecton, Hartford, Conn., Hartford Press, 1899, page 37 (catalogue no. 211), and page 34 (illustrated)

     "211 Navy Revolver. cal .38, percussion, cylinder six chambers, paper cartridge : from battlefield of Antietam, Md., September 17, 1862. [1710]"

 

Illustrated Catalogue of the United States Cartridge Company's Collection of Firearms, n.d. (1903), page 131 and page 128 (illustrated)

"647  Navy Revolver, cal. .36, Percussion, six shots, paper cartridge. From the    battle-field of Antietam, Md., Sept. 17th, 1862."

 

Note that each describes the revolver as having only 6 chambers when in fact it has 8.

Sellers, The William M. Locke Collection, page 469

Wilson,  American Arms Collectors, Percussion Colts and Their Rivals, The Al Cali Collection, page 106