I do love guns with historic attribution. These are a couple of the very few guns I kept when consigning my collection to RIA (the remainder of which will be liquidated at their various auctions over the course of 2023 hint hint nudge nudge wink wink shameless plug).
The 2nd Model American (wooden grips) belonged to Marshal George Spriggs of Jetmore, Kansas, a small town about 40 miles north of Dodge City. When a group of four rowdy cowboys were arrested and had to be transported for trial, the task fell to him. He traded an old cap and ball revolver plus some cash for the more modern large bore S&W cartridge revolver. He tried to recruit a couple relatives to help with the prisoner pick-up. They declined the honor but one of them, a harness maker, made a flap holster for the gun (I have it, but not pictured.)
He met and fell in love with a 14 year old girl who had been blinded by German measles and was abused by her family, who considered her a useless burden. They married and started a farm together. Spriggs pounded poles into various locations on the farmstead with carvings on them that she could touch to identify her location while navigating her way around her chores. The gun was acquired from the Marshal's grandson, who relayed these stories.
The 3rd Model Russian (pearl grips) is period inscribed on the backstrap to Col. John Rankin, Lawrence KS. Rankin served the Union in the Civil War. He and his cousin, also a Union officer, were the only two individuals to offer armed resistance to Quantrill's Raiders in their 1863 attack on Lawrence. The pair encountered six of the raiders in the open street, drew their revolvers and wounded two of them and several horses before driving them off.
Rankin went on to have a distinguished career, serving in the Kansas legislature and as Mayor of Lawrence. He established a retail store which became the Rankin Drug Store which was still in business on Lawrence's main street, Massachusetts, when I was in college there in the 1970s.
He obviously acquired this revolver a decade or more after his encounter with the the raiders. It has a somewhat crudely carved horse head on the pearl grips, with ruby colored eyes and holes where a wire bridle was once mounted. It came to me out of a Wyoming collection from the owner of the Diamond Ranch.
The firing pin is broken, and I'd like to find a replacement hammer for it to make the gun shootable again (and of course I'll keep the old hammer to keep the original gun parts together. I wonder if it was broken intentionally by a later owner to "deactivate" the piece so kids could play with it? Any tips on finding a hammer would be most appreciated.
The 2nd Model American (wooden grips) belonged to Marshal George Spriggs of Jetmore, Kansas, a small town about 40 miles north of Dodge City. When a group of four rowdy cowboys were arrested and had to be transported for trial, the task fell to him. He traded an old cap and ball revolver plus some cash for the more modern large bore S&W cartridge revolver. He tried to recruit a couple relatives to help with the prisoner pick-up. They declined the honor but one of them, a harness maker, made a flap holster for the gun (I have it, but not pictured.)
He met and fell in love with a 14 year old girl who had been blinded by German measles and was abused by her family, who considered her a useless burden. They married and started a farm together. Spriggs pounded poles into various locations on the farmstead with carvings on them that she could touch to identify her location while navigating her way around her chores. The gun was acquired from the Marshal's grandson, who relayed these stories.
The 3rd Model Russian (pearl grips) is period inscribed on the backstrap to Col. John Rankin, Lawrence KS. Rankin served the Union in the Civil War. He and his cousin, also a Union officer, were the only two individuals to offer armed resistance to Quantrill's Raiders in their 1863 attack on Lawrence. The pair encountered six of the raiders in the open street, drew their revolvers and wounded two of them and several horses before driving them off.
Rankin went on to have a distinguished career, serving in the Kansas legislature and as Mayor of Lawrence. He established a retail store which became the Rankin Drug Store which was still in business on Lawrence's main street, Massachusetts, when I was in college there in the 1970s.
He obviously acquired this revolver a decade or more after his encounter with the the raiders. It has a somewhat crudely carved horse head on the pearl grips, with ruby colored eyes and holes where a wire bridle was once mounted. It came to me out of a Wyoming collection from the owner of the Diamond Ranch.
The firing pin is broken, and I'd like to find a replacement hammer for it to make the gun shootable again (and of course I'll keep the old hammer to keep the original gun parts together. I wonder if it was broken intentionally by a later owner to "deactivate" the piece so kids could play with it? Any tips on finding a hammer would be most appreciated.
