Pepperboxes get some bad press for accuracy, but for pure firepower in a close-up encounter, they had a large following. It is sometimes said they were competitors with Colts and other revolvers, but the truth is that those makers were struggling to catch up from the late 1830s into the 1850s. With the barrel assembly cast as one unit and machined with integral nipples, production time and cost were reduced, and they could be sold for less than half the price of a Colt. They were smoothbore and with the whole barrel cluster rotating, were made without sights, but the mechanism was simpler: only an indexing pin was necessary hold barrel and nipple under the hammer, and no need for cylinder stops or precise alignment of cylinder chambers with a barrel forcing cone. Like this six-barrel .32 caliber version by Allen and Thurber, most were also double-action, enabling the user to fire it as fast as he could pull the trigger.

This one is nicely marked on the bar hammer “Allen’s Patent” and on the barrel cluster, “Allen & Thurber,” “Worcester,” “Patented 1837,” and “Cast Steel” (with “cast” repeated.) Ethan Allen, no relation to the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, partnered with brother-in-law Charles Thurber in 1837 and set up operations in Grafton, Mass. Their pepperboxes are grouped generally into three broad categories by the successive locations of the factory: Grafton, Norwich, and Worcester. “Worcester” dates this one 1847 at earliest, and the firm name, at latest to 1854, when the company became Allen, Thurber and Company.

This is a very good example with substantial thin blue on the barrel cluster, some on the nipple shield, and fainter touches on the frame, mixing with a muted silver gray. Both frame and nipple shield have floral scroll engraving. The triggerguard is plated and has nice color, but with some crusty brown breaking through in the upper recesses. The nipple shield has a small triangular chip out at the rear edge. The bar hammer shows some color. All the markings are sharp and legible. The bag grips have excellent color and finish with few handling marks, and are of the typical Worcester shape with gentle, continuous curve.

Production numbers are uncertain: Allen and Thurber numbered their guns within batches and not with continuous serial numbers. But, they were immensely popular and widely carried by travelers, westerners, some military officers in the Mexican War era, explorers of the early west, and gold-seekers. We see them shown off in daguerreotypes and even some Civil War photos, though by that time we might suspect a photographer’s prop. They are an integral part of the old west.  [sr] [ph:L]

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