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LOT 113
Extremely Rare Historic E.H. Collier Patent No. 9 Revolving Flintlock Carbine with Snap Bayonet - Serial no. 9, 20 gauge, 14 inch round bbl., bright finish, walnut stock. This Collier revolving flintlock carbine is believed to have been manufactured c. 1819-1820 in London. It is illustrated and discussed in
the American Society of Arms Collectors article “Collier and His Revolvers” by Clay P. Bedford who also noted it was featured in an article by Charter Harrison in the 20th issue of “The Gun Collector” from February 1948. Bedford refers to this example as a blunderbuss in reference to its slightly flared muzzle. The Collier design originates from a design patented by Captain Artemus Wheeler in the U.S. in 1818. One of Wheeler’s incredibly rare examples, a U.S. Navy trials revolving rifle, is also in this auction in Lot 1102. Wheeler first patented the design in the U.S. on June 10, 1818. Elisha Haydon Collier, a resident of Boston, Massachusetts, received a patent on an improved design on November 24, 1818, in England, and Cornelius Coolidge, also of Boston, patented an improved design in France on August 5, 1819. Collier’s name soon became the one associated with the design. Collier operated “Collier & Co., Gunmakers” in London from 1818 to 1827 and sold revolving pistols, rifles, carbines and shotguns. Blackmore indicates John Evans was associated with Collier’s revolvers, and other English gunmakers are also believed to have been involved, including William Mills who formed a brief partnership with Collier as well as Samuel Nock and Thomas
Mortimer who are referenced on Collier broadsheets.
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Collier firearms display the high quality workmanship typical of the best London gunmakers. Total production of Collier firearms is estimated to be approximately 150 pieces split into several variations. Samuel Colt is believed
to have seen Collier’s revolvers on his 1830-
31 voyage to England and India as a sailor on
the Corvo and to have been influenced by the design; indeed, the Collier patents and testimony from Collier were part of the 1851 court case brought by Colt against the Massachusetts
Arms Co. due to Colt’s patent being considered an improvement on the Collier and Wheeler patents. Colt also covered the Collier in “On the Application of Machinery to the Manufacture of Rotating-Breech Fire-Arms and Their Peculiarities” and the publication shows a carbine similar in design but without a bayonet on page 52.