Philadelphia Deringer
Circa 1864: This derringer was made by Henry Deringer of Philadelphia. By the time this pistol was made, the makers name misspelled with a small "d" and two "r"s was already becoming generic noun for small concealable pocket pistols, as it remains today.
While Henry was most well known for making small single shot percussion pistols like this one, he also made full size pistols and duellers.
The pistol used by John Wilkes Booth to shoot President Lincoln was a Henry Deringer pistol very much like this one.
There were several retailers who had special contracts with Henry Deringer and he would mark those pistols with the retailer's name. In San Francisco the Curry brothers sold authentic Philadelphia Deringers. Henry's first contract in San Francisco was with Charles Curry and then after Charles died in 1863, Charles brother Nathaniel Curry took over. The "N Curry mark on this pistol confirms that it was made between 1863 and February 1868 when Henry Deringer himself died.
It has been estimated that about 15,000 pistols were made by Deringer between 1830 and his death in 1868, roughly 400 pistols per year.
There were many imitators of Henry Deringer making pistols that were nearly identical to the originals. Some of the most boldfaced copies were made by Slotter and Company of Philadelphia, a firm founded by former employees of Henry Deringer. Slotter went so far as to hire John Deringer, a tailor by trade, in order to try to give some legitimacy to their use of the trademark Deringer name.
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