Holster Pistol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1776
name: label: maker
content: Waters, Asa
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .65 caliber smoothbore flintlock pistol was made by Asa Waters. It has a brass barrel pinned to a full stock. It is brass mounted with a swollen wooden ramrod. It has decorated furniture, and a grotesque engraving of a face in the buttplate.
label: Description
content: The left side of the barrel is stamped “PRO” / “VED”. “SUTTON” is engraved on the top of the barrel and on the button is “VI”. The lockplate is stamped “WATERS”.
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: Asa Waters was born in Sutton, Mass. He and his brother Andrus bought a factory in Singletary Creek in 1776. After two years in business, Andrus died. Asa continued the company and became known as a musket maker for the Council of Safety. He also served as a Lieutenant in the Lexington Alarm, an auxiliary militia group. In 1782, he moved the factory to Millbury, Mass. and named the company Asa Waters & Co. His company was succeeded by his two sons Asa H. and Elijah in 1814.
label: Description
content: This particular pistol was produced by Asa Waters before his move to Millbury, Mass. It was most likely contracted for use during the Revolutionary War. The design of the pistol is copied from English pistols.
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: Flayderman, Norm. Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms…and their Values, Gun Digest Books, Iola, 2007. 9th edition.
label: Description
content: Gardner, Robert E. Col. Small Arms Makers: A Directory of Fabricators of Firearms, Edged Weapons, Crossbows and Polearms, Crown Publishers Inc, New York: 1963, p. 203-204.
label: Description
content: Smith, Samuel E. and Edwin W. Bitter. Historic Pistols: The American Martial Flintlock 1760-1845, Scalamandre Publications, New York: 1986, p. 28.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Sutton
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Adriana and Edwin W. Bitter Family Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0518.06
label: accession number
content: 1988.0518
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0518.06
label: collector/donor number
content: P137L
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol, flintlock
label: Other Terms
content: pistol; Firearms; Flintlock; .65 In; Smooth Bore; Muzzle Load; Sa
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: iron (part material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (part material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33.8582 cm; 13 5/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 3/8 in x 5 1/4 in x 2 1/8 in; 33.9725 cm x 13.335 cm x 5.3975 cm