Sharps Large Frame Breech-Loading Pistol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1855
name: label: maker
content: Sharps, Christian
notes: label: Description
content: Physical Description:
label: Description
content: This .36 caliber rifled breech-loading single shot percussion pistol was made by C. Sharps & Co. It has a dropping block lever activated action, and two piece wooden grips. The mountings are iron.
label: Description
content: Under the hammer is stamped “C. SHARPS & COS/GUN WORLD/PHILA PA”. On the opposite side is the stamp “C. SHARPS/PATENT/1840-1852”.
label: Description
content: History:
label: Description
content: Christian Sharps created his company in 1858 on the Wire Bridge in Fairmount, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During the Civil War, C. Sharps & Co. produced 80, 512 pistols and rifles for the U.S. Government. The company was changed in 1863 to Sharps & Hankins but remained at the same address and was still listed in the 1875 directory as C. Sharps & Co. This company was made famous for their self priming pistols and rifles.
label: Description
content: 850 of this type of pistol were created between 1854 and 1857. It is based on the Model 1848 Sharps Pistol. The lever activated action is basically the same as on a carbine or a rifle. Only a limited number were made because there was not a market for this type of pistols when they were manufactured.
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. 174.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Military
label: See more items in
content: The Bitter Collection of Firearms
label: See more items in
content: Military
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: 1989.0748.05
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0748.05
label: accession number
content: 1989.0748
label: serial number
content: 681
label: collector/donor number
content: P100
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pistol
label: Object Name
content: pistol, percussion
label: Other Terms
content: pistol; Firearms; Caliber .38; Percussion
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/4 in; 26.035 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 10 3/8 in x 5 3/8 in; 3.81 cm x 26.3525 cm x 13.6525 cm