Schneider & Company Derringers, ca. 1859
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GUEST:
Here we have a couple of Derringers. They were old, percussion cap, muzzle-loading Derringers that were in my father's gun safe for... I don't know, ever since I've been on this planet.
APPRAISER:
Well, these guns are referred to as Derringers.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
But the neat thing about these guns is they're Derringer knock-offs.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Derringer had the perfect little gun. It was nice, simple, very functional, single barrel.
GUEST:
Okay, yeah.
APPRAISER:
And everybody wanted to make something like that because they sold really well.
GUEST:
I see.
APPRAISER:
And so Derringers sell in their own market, and then you have a collector market for non-Derringer made Derringer-style pistols.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
These are desirable because they're a Southern-made Derringer.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And if we notice, on the top of the barrel we have "Schneider & Co., Memphis, Tennessee."
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Which is kind of misleading because it's believed that these guns are made in Nashville by a company owned by Frank Bitterlick.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And they're very distinctive because of the shape of the trigger guard as well as the shape of the grip: how it's a flat grip.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And how the trigger is a spur trigger. Most of the guns of the day used a full trigger guard.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
You have a scarce maker.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
You have a Southern mark.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And you have the pair.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
And not only are they a pair, they're actually numbered.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
We have the number one on the one closer to you, and the number two on this one. And what's cool is, because it's marked Schneider & Co., in 1859 William Schneider, who owned this company, went into business with Glassick. And so we know that this gun would have been made no later than 1859. One thing that's neat about these is that because of the size and because of the function of the gun, it's easily broken. You see wood that gets chipped.
GUEST:
Yeah, right.
APPRAISER:
You see springs that get broken. These are both nice and complete, fully functional guns.
GUEST:
Yeah, yeah.
APPRAISER:
Would never shoot them…
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But they are nice and complete.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
If these were a set of Derringers, the regular Philadelphia-made Derringers, these guns would sell between $1,000 and $1,500 apiece. Because they're Southern, it broadens the market because a Derringer collector would collect it or a Southern gun collector would collect them. If it were a single gun, because of the maker, because of the mark, it's a gun that's probably worth-- as a single-- $4,000 or so.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Because you have a pair, it makes it more desirable to a collector. As a pair, they're a pair that would retail for about $10,000.
GUEST:
No kidding. I'm speechless. I don't know what to say.
APPRAISER:
That's the way I like to leave it.
GUEST:
Yeah, all right.
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