When Turner Kirkland published “Southern Derringers of the Mississippi Valley,” he could find no complete example of a Schumann deringer, only a barrel. In the intervening years only this example seems to have turned up, marked in script on the top flat of the octagonal barrel just forward of the breechplug, “F. Schumman Memphis Tenn.”

The barrel is about .52 caliber and fitted with a German silver front sight and short notched rear sight. The back action lock is unmarked, but has an engraved border. The barrel is secured by a screw passing up through a German silver escutcheon plate. The stock is fitted with likewise a German silver triggerguard with trefoil finial, narrow teardrop buttcap extending a little way up the back, shield escutcheon plate, and sideplate in the form of a silhouette flying dove, for lack of a better analogy. The stock has a birdshead butt and a checkered horizontal band near the bottom meeting a checkered band flaring up on either side of the buttcap spur, the ends of the bands angled as then meet above the spur to form an open V, mirroring the bottom of the shield escutcheon and pointed tip of the spur. The stock is fashioned with a drop toward the muzzle, creating a blunderbuss visual effect emphasizing the already impressive bore size. The metal shows thin plum in color, generally smooth. The wood has some dings along the barrel channel on the left and a narrow, repaired, hairline just forward of the sideplate. The bore and action are good.

Deringer considered the south his main market according to Kirkland, who counted as southern both Deringer-made pistols marked by southern agents and pistols made in the Mississippi River valley. He dated the high point of southern manufacture 1855-1870 and considered them as back up weapons carried west as well. Most tend to think of them as antebellum and they also have an inescapable connection in popular culture with Bowie knives and Mississippi riverboat gamblers. This is an extremely rare example by a maker Kirkland considered a “ten” on the scale of difficulty to obtain.  [sr] [ph:m/L]

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