Rock Island Auction - May 5-7th 2017
https://www.rockislandauction.com/
Gun's With a Most Deadly History
“Lot 2156” - sounds fairly benign, hard to imagine one can purchase a true fatal moment of history, a moment that had mortal consequences to those involved. As the baby boomers reach the beginning of the twilight of their years, some long closed gun collections are beginning to come to market. These guns, most of these guns, will disappear into private collections for another 50 or 60 years as the cycle continues. Within the last year, Rock Island Auction has presented dazzling historical artifacts.
One auction item resonated with me, a pair of dueling pistols. These weapons were used in one of the last formal duels held in the United States, "An Affair of Honor" as it was known, held August 26, 1870. In this case one Edward Freeman challenged Edward Hamlin to a duel by formal letter, writing he was a "coward, poltroon and a base scoundrel." Though silly in a modern context these words were deadly in the 19th century. The exact nature of the offense can be inferred as involving an affair by the married Hamlin with a woman of Freeman’s interest. Since both men had fought for the confederacy and attended Virginia Military Institute, they should've had a certain collegiality. Hamlin, considered a professional duelist, had killed five men in three years. Understand, most duels of this later period ended with guns being fired intentionally missing the opponent, or intentionally inflicted flesh wounds. Shooting to kill was bad form, especially so many times in such a short period (and dueling was illegal). The fact the reference to the underlying issue was oblique is clear from the writings of the time that sex with an unmarried women was involved. Hamlin's dying words stressed "he died a gentleman." Interestingly Hamlin, contrary to form, actually put notches on the back of his pistols, "marking" his kills with pride. The pistols at auction are inscribed with these visible marks.
The guns are a matched pair of beautiful Damas Dacier damascus muzzle loaded percussion cap single shot pistols. The case included (and still has) all the accouterments necessary, including the lead mold to make the bullets. The pistols also have beautifully delicate engravings, and the damascus is laid out in a complicated decorative pattern. Typical of many fine dueling pistols of the era, these were crafted in Paris. Consider these guns were made long after metallic cartridge ammunition was available, and revolvers were the rage, yet there was still a demand - in the middle of the old west and Indian wars - for fine antiquated single-shot dueling guns. The irony escapes most. As sportsmen's guns, self defense and military weapons reached for the stratosphere of innovation and invention, dueling weapons stayed the same over the previous 200 years.
There in an auction this May, one can purchase a slice of history: elegantly fitted guns that accomplished their deadly purpose all too well. The continuity of history, the story and lives they affected are often best reflected by storied firearms. They bear the personal history of families for generations.