For a few of the firearms conferences I'm going to attend this year, I think I'm going to display this Smith & Wesson revolver.
On the surface, it's in gorgeous shape for such an early example of a Model 1. It left the factory on April 12, 1859 and probably arrived that same day at the offices of Joseph Storrs in New York City. Storrs was Smith & Wesson's sole sales agent back in the day, and he coordinated the distribution of their revolvers around the world.
This one is particularly unique, because it's dealer stamped by another distributor: Wolfe, Dash & Fisher. WD&F were hardware wholesalers in New York that also had an office in New Orleans. The Big Easy was a profitable market for wholesalers and distributors, but the logistics of getting goods down there weren't easy to navigate. The company's principles included John Wolfe, Bowie and John B. Dash, and Frederick A. Fisher.
If the Wolfe name sounds vaguely familiar, it may be through Catharine Lorillard Wolfe. Catharine was John's first cousin, and she ended up inheriting much of the Wolfe family's wealth—which she used to develop an enormous European art collection. Her bequest of this collection (and a $200,000 endowment) formed the foundation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's remarkable collection of paintings.
WD&F only lasted a few years into the Civil War. The blockades made it next t impossible to move goods south—crippling a major source of their profits. Bowie Dash went on to become an important New York coffee merchant.
As for this revolver? It was almost certainly shipped to New Orleans, where it didn't get much use judging by the amount of silver plating left on the brass frame.
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