Percussion Philadelphia Deringer pistol, USA 1862

Reproduction of a percussion pistol, made of metal and plastic imitation wooden stock, with simulated loading and firing mechanism.

The Deringer Philadelphia was a muzzle-loading pocket pistol, designed by Henry Deringer (1786-1868) and produced from 1852 to 1868. This weapon, with a single shot, had a percussion-ignition system, it was used for very short distances. Very often they used to be sold in pairs; this fact was due to compensate the limited power of a single-barreled short gun and its poor reliability.

Because of its great availability, the Deringer became very popular, initially among military officers and later among civilians who wished to have a small and easy-to-hide gun for self-defense; they also had the dubious reputation for being the favorite weapon of killers and poker players.

In 1865, Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd attended a performance at the Ford theater. When Lincoln sat in the box, John Wilkes Booth, a Maryland actor, resident in Virginia and Southern supporter, appeared from behind and fired a single shot with a round Deringer bullet at the president's head and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis"! (Latin expression that means "this way always to the tyrants", which is the motto of the state of Virginia).

Abraham Lincoln (Hodgenville, Kentucky, February 12, 1809 - Washington DC, April 15, 1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States of America from March 1861 until his murder in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States during the Secession War, the bloodiest conflict and perhaps also the greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis that the American nation has suffered. At the same time, it preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government and modernized the economy.

Feel part of American history with the DENIX reproduction of this Deringer!
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