Description
Very nice example of the Allen & Thurber Ring Trigger Pepperbox Revolver. Classic Allen’s patent pepperbox, based upon his original 1837 patent mechanism. The right side of the bar hammer is marked in two lines, “ALLEN & THURBER PATENT NORWICH C-T”. The barrel is marked on one of the ribs in a single long line with three separate stamps, “PATENTED 1837 CAST STEEL”. The gun is a 6-barrel pepperbox that is nominally .30 caliber with a 3.5” barrel cluster. The barrels are ribbed, a feature that disappeared with later Allen pepperboxes, as the design eventually evolved to fluted barrels after the firm moved to Worchester. The flash guard is removable and is etched with light foliate motifs. The frame is hand engraved with flowing floral patterns. The backstrap is engraved with light, decorative boarder designs. The pepperbox measures about 6 ¾” in overall length and weighs a little more than a pound unloaded, which is a fairly substantial amount of weight to carry in a pocket. Nice aged patina throughout. The 6 smooth bores of the barrel cluster remain in about good to very condition and show moderately heavy oxidation and some scattered pinpricking and light pitting along their length. The pepperbox remains mechanically fine and functions perfectly. The gun times, indexes and locks up exactly as it should. The two-piece, bag shaped walnut grips are in about very good condition. They remain fairly crisp and sharp and retain some of their original varnished finish, with moderate amounts of edge wear and finish loss. It also has the oval German silver inserts, known as “spangles”, that are associated with the Grafton and Norwich production periods. Overall a very nice piece!
