April 24-25, 2019 Extraordinary, Sporting, & Collector Firearms
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/25/2019
The LeMat patented revolver saw widespread use during the Civil War, especially in the Southern states. The original first models were manufactured in Paris and the late war models were manufactured in London. Copyright infrigements were a very common occurrence amongst European gun manufacturers in Belgium and Spain and plagued the major manufacturers during the mid 19th century. This is such a gun. It is a foreign made copy of the famous LeMat revolver. It does not have any liege inspector stamps, leading us to believe that this example was made in Spain. These revolvers, made to resemble other well-known revolvers, are referred to today as a "Brevette" model, which indicates it being a foreign copy. This was manufactured during the Civil War period and is a copy of the Paris LeMat, featuring a nine shot percussion .42 caliber revolving cylinder and a single smoothbore .63 caliber shotgun barrel for buck and ball. Features a typical first model part octagon part round barrel with loading lever mounted on right side. The full or partial serial number (167) can be found on barrel, right side of frame, cylinder, and shot barrel. There is a "J" on left side of shot barrel, script in circle stamp on left side of barrel, illegible, top of barrel stamped "Col. LeMat's Patent." Smooth varnish wood stocks. Butt with lanyard and ring. Sash hook on trigger guard. Hammer is finely checkered. CONDITION: All metal is a smooth grey patina with no traces of original finish. Has a near mint bore with strong lands and grooves. All legends are sharp. Grips are excellent. Indexes and locks up correctly. Overall a very fine Brevette Civil War period first style LeMat.
Caliber/Bore
.42 Percussion / .63 Bore Shotgun