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LOT 1186
Incredibly Rare Henry Harrington Seven-Shot Percussion Volley Gun - NSN, 48 cal., 30 inch part round bbl., blue finish,
walnut stock. Henry Harrington (1796-1876) of Southbridge, Massachusetts, patented his “volley gun” design in 1837 and intended to manufacture or license the production of long guns, handguns, and cannons based on his design. He is actually best remembered outside of gun collecting as a manufacturer of cutlery. In fact, his
company, founded in 1818, is credited as the first U.S. cutlery manufacturer and remains the largest manufacturer of cutlery within the country today. He produced a limited number of long guns and handguns of various patterns based on this “volley” design, including some with an incredible number of individual chambers.
All of these firearms are incredibly rare and desirable, and most are fairly unique given the variety of calibers, single versus double hammer varieties, barrel lengths, different materials, etc. Norm Flayderman indicated a three-shot
was the norm, if a norm could really be established among the extant examples. We sold a cased pistol version
in December 2020 for $34,500 demonstrating how desirable these volley guns are among serious antique arms collectors. Reloading on this single hammer, seven-shot example is fairly easy. You slide the lever ahead of the trigger guard to the right, pull the hammer back, and lift the breechblock out. Then, you place another loaded breechblock in its place and slide the lever to the left to lock it in place. There is no half-cock, so the hammer is either going to
be left resting on a live cap if the gun is primed or left with the hammer back over a live cap. This would certainly
be rather risky. Reloading the breechblocks involves first seating the seven individual bullets in their respective chambers and then filling the powder chamber from the rear. The back of the breechblock has a screw-on cover that can be removed. Unscrewing the cover reveals the shared powder chamber that propels all of the bullets. This breech end of the barrel group has a decorative German silver wrap with various band, and the bulk of the barrel group is wrapped with blackened cord and then a set of iron bands at the muzzle. The frame has “HENRY HARRINGTONS/ PATENT./1837/SOUTHBRIDGE/MASS” on the left side. The gun is fitted with a figured buttstock and shotgun buttplate.