This elegant little percussion pistol uses .41 caliber over-and-under barrels on a swivel breech, which allows it to rest flat and unobtrusively in the pocket. The bag grips are finely checkered, in very good condition, with a tight fit to the frame, and a small oval German silver escutcheon plate near the top. The metal is smooth and the receiver silvery gray in color, but there is some thin blue on the hammer, safety, and barrels, and very nicely done floral scroll engraving on both sides of the frame, which is picked up by a thin branch engraved in the short flutes between the reinforced breeches, which are themselves decorated with small checked borders. We see just some crusty brown showing between the two barrels, which should clean. The safety has checked edges and the hammer has nicely engraved border lines on the flat sides of the lower neck. The top surface of the hammer is struck with small crescents and circles that play on its dolphin profile. The maker’s name and address is engraved on the left side of the frame, just under the hammer: “T.  Wilson / Liverpool.”

The pistol has no triggerguard and a folding trigger, another consideration for discreet carrying, and the lower frame has a small J-shaped flange covering the nipple of the barrel in the lower position to keep a percussion cap in place. The hammer is center hung and the pistol is fitted with a sliding safety at top rear, a good idea, since the upper barrel would be carried loaded and capped under the hammer. A single-shot percussion deringer style pocket pistol sold recently also marked T. Wilson / Liverpool. Like that pistol, this one probably dates to the 1850s. Wilson is a well-known name in British gun making, but this Wilson’s connection, if any, to Richard Wilson, maker of flintlock arms, or Thomas Wilson, who patented a breechloading rifle known to Civil War collectors, is uncertain. In any case, this is an elegant pocket pistol for a gentleman “walking out.”  [sr] [ph:L]

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