Page 206 - 88-BOOK2

THE WAR BEGUN
THE SUMMONS TO MAJOR ANDERSON TO SURRENDER
MAJOR ANDERSON'S REFUSAL
THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT SUMTER COMMENCED
204
LOT 1194
Extraordinary Historic Factory Presentation Panel Scene Engraved and Gilded Pair of Moore’s Patent Firearms Co. No. 1 Derringers Inscribed to General Abner Doubleday and Mary Doubleday -A) Moore Patent Derringer Inscribed to Civil War Hero General Abner Doubleday, Defender of Fort Sumter and the “Father of Baseball” - Serial no. 15, 41 RF cal.,
2 1/2 inch flat top round bbl., blue/gold finish, metal grips. These pistols were manufactured c. 1861-1863 and are both marked with the Feb.
19, 1861, patent date. Later Moore Derringers have the February 24, 1863, patent marking. This design was later manufactured by the National Arms Co. and then Colt after the purchase of the company in 1870. The first pistol has “MOORE’S PATENT FEB. 19 1861” hand inscribed on the top of the barrel, “15” on the breech face of the barrel and inside the hammer well on the left and right, “GEN A. DOUBLEDAY” inscribed amongst radiating lines over a cannon on the left side of the frame
(a fitting design given Doubleday’s service in the U.S. Artillery and his aiming the first Union artillery fire from Fort Sumter), and engraving mainly consisting of scroll patterns, floral designs along the barrel lug, a burst pattern on top ahead of the hammer, and checkering on the grip. The second pistol has “MOORE’S PATENT FEB 19. 1861” hand inscribed in an engraved banner along the top of the barrel, “7” on the breech face of the barrel, “18” inside the hammer well on the left and right, “Mary Doubleday” in light script on the left side above a floral patterns, more finely detailed interlaced scroll engraving accented by floral and shell designs, checkering along the grip inhabited by a floral motif on the back, and a detailed bird scene on top ahead of the hammer.
The first pistol is inscribed to General Abner Doubleday, while the second is inscribed to Mary Doubleday, his wife. The General’s pistol is featured in the “Monthly Bugle” from December 1971 in the article “General Abner Doubleday’s
Derringer” by Henry M. Stewart Jr. He indicates that this pistol was brought to light in January 1943 at a meeting of the Sportswriters of America in Philadelphia. The pistol was sold to Stewart
by an elderly gentleman. Along with the pistol was the included small rosewood case with “AD” inscribed on the silver lid escutcheon. The case would have originally held other items rather than the pistol but appears to have been re-purposed by General Doubleday or his descendants to
hold it. A document on Pennsylvania Antique
Gun Collectors Association letterhead signed by Stewart and dated January 1943 is also included
in which he writes, “Moore’s Deringer, Serial #15, was given by General Doubleday to Morton Stell, friend of Mrs. Lincoln, who in turn presented it to the grandfather of W.E. Coles, from whom I secured the pistol.” He also writes about Doubleday being “recognized as the inventor of baseball, as in 1839 he devised the standard diagram of bases and the positions of the players. The first game of record was played in that year at Coopertown, N.Y.”The second pistol inscribed to Mary Doubleday was not with it at the time and was sold at auction in San Francisco in 2002. The pistols are also accompanied by a copy of “Major-General Abner Doubleday and Brevet Major-General John C. Robinson in the Civil War” by the New York Monuments Commission,
a copy of the June 19, 1939, issue Newsweek
with Doubleday on the cover which notes “Gen. Doubleday fathered baseball 100 years ago,” other old articles about Doubleday and the origin of baseball, a portrait of Abner and Mary Doubleday from Brady’s National Portrait Gallery marked “Dec., 1863” and “Doubleday” on the back, a framed portrait of General Doubleday, and a Union Metallic Cartridge Co. box of .41 rim fire ammunition with an illustration of a No.1 Derringer in the upper right of the blue top label.
Abner Doubleday (1819-1893) was born in New York. His father, Ulysses F. Doubleday, was a veteran of the War of 1812 and was elected to Congress in 1831 and then again in 1835.