Arms & Militaria

Wurflein Derringer, ca. 1860

Appraisal: Wurflein Derringer, ca. 1860

Transcript

GUEST: That came from my father-in-law's collection. He's a teller of tall tales and he tells us that's the same model that killed Lincoln, but we have no way of knowing that.

APPRAISER: But what did he mean by the same model?

GUEST: The same type of gun.

APPRAISER: So, he wasn't saying that it was the one that killed Lincoln?

GUEST: He did not say that. We've looked for it in books. Some of the books had a value of maybe $600 on them. And this has been some time ago, and other than that, we know nothing about it.

APPRAISER: Lincoln was killed with a .44-caliber Deringer pistol made by Henry Deringer. This pistol is actually made by a man by the name of Andrew Wurfflein, who was also active in Philadelphia up about the same time that Deringer was, until the late 1860s. He was making pistols in exactly the same style as Deringer.

GUEST: So this one is not a Deringer, then?

APPRAISER: It's not a Deringer, but it's exactly the same style. The pistol was made sometime in the 1850s, 1860s.

GUEST: Okay, we had that right.

APPRAISER: Again, in line with when Lincoln was assassinated in '65. So he wasn't really telling a tall tale because, other than the fact that it has Wurfflein's name on it, it would look exactly like the one that killed Lincoln, okay?

GUEST: I'll give him credit for that.

APPRAISER: What intrigued me more, other than the fact that it's a Wurfflein derringer is the mark here on the top of the lock, where it says, "TF Guion, NO." Thomas Guion provided gentlemen's furnishings, and included in those furnishings were firearms. The "NO" stands for "New Orleans." These derringers are highly collectible, and the derringer collectors look for all sorts of scarce variants, and particularly, they like ones that were marked by agents representing the Philadelphia gun makers in the South. And Guion is a fairly scarce agent. The issues that the pistol have is that, you see, there's some loss to the wood. There's a loss to the barrel retaining plate, here. And what I've noticed also is that the trigger guard, it's a replacement.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And so at some point or other, the trigger guard had broken off and they replaced it with that. So, you say your research indicates that it could be worth about $600? So what do you think I'm going to say?

GUEST: (laughing) I don't know. You've got my curiosity up now.

APPRAISER: Again, the issue is the repair, but even in this condition, I think the pistol is probably worth, at auction, somewhere around $1,500 to $2,500.

GUEST: Okay, my wife was right, then. I've got to give her credit for that.

Appraiser

Paul Carella

Bonhams, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

APPRAISED VALUE (2014)

$1,500 - $2,500 Auction

Event

Austin, TX (2014)

Theme

Historical Artifacts

Form

Arms & Militaria, Gun, Pistol

Appraiser Speciality

Arms & Militaria

Material

Metals & Alloys, Wood

Period

19th Century

Update: November 28, 2016

The small, short-range pistol called a “derringer” derives its name from Henry Deringer, a Philadelphia manufacturer from the 1820s. The small pistols by Deringer were so popular at the time, they inspired copycats who called their versions “derringers.” Imitators not only used his logo, but they also would misspell his name with an extra “r” — as “Derringer” — to avoid trademark restrictions. Eventually, the misspelled version became synonymous with this class of weapon, also known as a “pocket pistol.”