You have to hand it to Ethan Allen for a concealable weapon. These pistols are just four inches long and deserve the name, “vest pocket deringer.” The barrel pivots to the right to load a single .22 caliber rimfire cartridge and then closes up to form a simple, streamlined profile. The spur trigger and rounded birdshead grips make it easy to slip into a pocket, or get it out.

The barrel shows faded blue mixed with gray, but has smooth metal showing just two small dings at the left breech and good markings. The frame is a mottled dark blue and aged brass, with most wear along the edges and on the right. The grips have a good fit to the frame and shows lots of varnish, though with some wear to the high spots. Allen made a few thousand of these from 1869 to 1871, but had to compete with the Sharps repeating four-barrel pepperbox and increasingly numerous cheap pocket revolvers.    [sr]

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