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LOT 1231
Exceptionally Rare and Fresh Documented Civil War Confederate Texas Dance & Brothers
Percussion Revolver - NSN, 44 cal., 8 inch part round bbl., blue finish, walnut grips. This
Confederate Dragoon type revolver was manufactured by J.H. Dance & Brothers of Columbia, Texas
between 1862-1865, in an effort to supply firearms to the Confederacy during the heat of the Civil
War. The exact number of these manufactured is unknown; some sources state 275-300, and others
list 300-400. According to page 158 of “Confederate Handguns,” the highest known serial numbered
Dance & Brothers .44 caliber revolver is serial number 324. This exact revolver, with a serial number
consisting of four punch dot marks “....”, is pictured and described on pages 106-107 of Gary Wiggins’
book “Dance & Brothers, Texas Gunmakers of the Confederacy” in which the picture caption notes
the cross-hatching on the hammer of this example and further states, “Several Dance products
have been noted with such checkering on the hammer spur. All components and construction,
including brass trigger guard and backstrap, comply with the standard Army model Dance revolver.
There is no explanation for the punch marks which appear in the same places on the same parts as
the customary serial numbers. Some of the Dance factory tools have been examined which bear
identical punch marks. This gun was found in the basement of an old pharmacy in central Texas. It
was in a moldy gunny sack with two other pistols of the same era.” This revolver has the distinctive
flat frame with no recoil shields, part-round barrel and nickel-silver front sight blade. The hammer
spur is knurled with cross-hatching. The six-shot cylinder has rectangular stops, and safety pins on
the rear face of the percussion cylinder. The revolver has a thick oval brass trigger guard and brass
back strap. The one-piece grip is nicely figured walnut with a glossy varnish finish. Matching punch
dot serial number “....” located on the left side of the loading lever, cylinder, cylinder arbor pin, left
side of the hammer, bottom of the barrel lug, frame, wedge, trigger guard, and butt. More examples
pictured and information on Dance revolvers can be found in Albaugh’s “Confederate Handguns”
on pages 157-161, Gary’s “Confederate Revolvers” on pages 56-79, and in Albaugh’s “Confederate
Arms” on pages 23, 26 and 27. Includes a custom made wooden case with a silver inlaid star on top
of the lid above four dot marks matching the markings on the revolver, with a fitted green felt lined
interior, key, lead balls, and a modern L-shaped combination tool.
As pictured & described
in Dance & Brothers,
Texas Gunmakers of the
Confederacy by Wiggins