Pistols in the Butcher Collection

[Delmonico]

I've been going through the Butcher Collection looking at the guns in it.  I'm going to do the pistols first.  Most of them I'll just post the crop showing the gun and the picture number.  A few I'll post the full picture cleaned up as best I can.  (but slightly cropped from the negative)

None of these are studio pictures, a few (which I will post the full picture) are posed to depict events.  I thought about whether to post these, but I decided to since they most likely just grabbed what hand gun was available and would still reflect on what was commonly around in the area in this period from 1886-1912.

I have not tried to identify all of them, some are pretty plain as to what they are, some are not.  If someone wants to take this task on, feel free to, what does stick out and will not surprise many is that the Colt Model P is not the most common handgun in this collection. Some of the pictures will also show a rifle or shotgun.  Ignore those for now, we will get to them in later threads.

The first picture is posed, depicts a bully getting the tables turned on him, there are two pictures, but this is the only one the gun is clear in.  Picture 12597.





Picture 10776.



Picture 12615



Another posed picture, depicts fence cutting, interesting picture, it deserves a thread of it's own.

Picture 12299.





Picture 14288.





A favorite picture of mine, picture 12637.





Picture 10082.



Picture 12988.



Picture 2888





Picture 10754.



Another posed one, one of two versions, called "Making a Tenderfoot Dance."

Pictue 12636.







Picture 12638.

[Cliff Fendley]

Delmonico, your photo work is just awesome! thanks for doing this. On the NCOWS forum there is discussion whether or not working cowboys had their holsters decorated, do you have any examples of this?

[Delmonico]

Delmonico, your photo work is just awesome! thanks for doing this. On the NCOWS forum there is discussion whether or not working cowboys had their holsters decorated, do you have any examples of this?

Not out of the Butcher collection, best bet on that would be The Denver Public Library Collection.  It's also on American Memory, although few of those are scanned from negatives.  A couple of these were copied from prints rather than negatives and I could sure tell the difference.  Out of over 3000 pictures, you don't see a lot of folks amred with handguns in them.  Some may have chose not to display them when getting their pictures taken by Butcher, but I'd say few folks owned or carried them in this area in this time period.

[Cliff Fendley]

Thanks

[Delmonico]

Thanks

Early 20th Century, but this would be a good collection to look in, it's Pre-WWI:

http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/collection.php

Myself I think far more changed after the start of WWI that the magic moment of 12.00 am Jan 1 1900.

[Major 2]

neat stuff  ..thanks Del

[St. George]

For carved, period holsters - look at Rattenbury's 'Packing Iron'.

If you don't own a copy - find someone in your family who loves you to buy you one for your birthday - you'll find it's most useful.

That said - many holsters of the era came from mail order houses from 'Back East' and they're on the 'plain' side - kinda like those made by 'Oklahoma Leather', today.

However - all that I've seen and owned had maker's marks and at least border stamping (likely done by a roller), and as with anything, you could buy prettier ones if you had the additional money.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[River City John]

Though these images are most likely from late in the 19th into the 20th cent., amazing how many seem to be double actions, and often 'pocket pistol' size too.
Nice job, Delmonico. Nice when there are large resolution images to blow up details and have them clear!
RCJ

[Dead I]

Delco; you've got a great eye!  The early top break pictols that your pictures who cost about a buck and a half.  I also see two cap and ball pistols.  I think they were more popular than we generally believe.

I have two original cap and ball pistols.  They have no finish but have good bores and they shoot pretty well.  I figure they must have made it from way back and up until  now being shot much of the time.  Maybe people who were in the gunfighters biz bought modern guns, but plain folks must have kept the old ones...or the cheap top breaks.

Ammunition was expensive at the time.  A box of shells cost 50 cents.  A Colt percussion pistol was cheap to shoot and they did the  job.  I'd carry one if I lived back then; unless I was a killer, of course.

[River City John]

The top pic, 12597, looks like a Merwin- Hulbert, and someone scratched in the 'smoke' as if a discharge into the negative on the glass by removing emulsion.

The pistol in the belt of the second image, 10776, appears to be a bag-grip single shot percussion of a small caliber - reminds me of a derringer-type.

12615 is an 1875 Remington. Or an 1890, hard to tell.
RCJ

[Delmonico]

John, that's just the 19th Century version of photo-shop.  Wait till I get to the shotguns, there is a much better photo-shop.

Also that's kind of what I thought with the pistols. the Remington one is 1904 and is in the Denver area, one of two out state ones

I also really like the 12637 picture, that young fella Charlie Meeks.  That one has so much interesting stuff, I think you've seen that one kicked around before, and the strange thing about his pistol.  The strange knife throws someone once in a while or more often.  I've got two like it, a good cosie needs a bread and cake knife once in a while.

[litl rooster]

Many of them just holster in their chaps pocket, couple immediately coome to mind of the ones in front of a Saloon.

[JimBob]

Delco; you've got a great eye!  The early top break pictols that your pictures who cost about a buck and a half.  I also see two cap and ball pistols.  I think they were more popular than we generally believe.

I have two original cap and ball pistols.  They have no finish but have good bores and they shoot pretty well.  I figure they must have made it from way back and up until  now being shot much of the time.  Maybe people who were in the gunfighters biz bought modern guns, but plain folks must have kept the old ones...or the cheap top breaks.

Ammunition was expensive at the time.  A box of shells cost 50 cents.  A Colt percussion pistol was cheap to shoot and they did the  job.  I'd carry one if I lived back then; unless I was a killer, of course.

A good overview of the kinds of firearms you might find in a hardware store or gun shop in the period 1868-1886 is a book called "Arming the West"by Herbert Houze.It is a recounting of Schyler,Hartley,and Graham Co.s shipping records of firearms they sent to dealers in the west.Broken down by state and listing to whom it was shipped if it is identified.Large numbers of Civil War surplus firearms,one of the biggest quantity wise was the M1842 musket.

[Deadeye Dick]

Also noticed the handgun in pic # 12597 is still cocked while there is painted-in smoke coming out the barrel. Fun and educational pictures.
Thanks Del,
Deadeye Dick