Catalog Auction info Auction #129 - Two-Day Sale, March 27th & 28th (#129) 03/27/2021 9:00 AM EDT Closed Starts Ending 03/27/2021 9:00 AM EDT Auction Info Lot #190 Exceptionally Rare Henry Deringer Gold-Mounted Percussion Pocket Pistol Engraved ''Acklen'' Click image to enlarge PreviousNextSimilar Items Lot closed - Sold Price (Including Buyer`s Premium):$10,800 Estimate: $10,000 - $15,000 Description Description: This is a very nice pocket size gentleman's Deringer, highly embellished by Mr. Deringer himself with deluxe burl grade walnut and gold appointments and is one of two such highly embellished Deringer arms known. The arm is about .45 caliber, flaring slightly to .48 at the muzzle proper with a 2 7/8'' octagon barrel with a lightly oxidized bore which shows strong rifling. The barrel is a pleasing plum brown patina showing nice quality open flowing scroll and floral decoration which remains quite vivid given the age of the gun, with remnants of a few light pits near the muzzle. The breech and tang are more of a pewter case-hardened patina, with the same loose nice quality scroll, appropriate ''Deringer Philadela'' marking and the left side firing proof, with dual inlaid gold bands. The front sight as well, normally a brass or silver offering, appears to be the same 18 karat gold we find throughout the balance of the arm. The lockplate and hammer are a similar patina with open flowing scroll with floral decoration, continuing onto the hammer which does show a bit of light pitting in the flash area. The arm features extensive gold appointments which show beautiful quality open scroll and floral decoration, which remains remarkably crisp given the soft nature of the base metal. Indeed all of the normal German silver components are 18 karat gold on this arm, including the left side flat inlaid flourish, trapdoor buttcap and a shield-shaped monogram plate atop the wrist; even the original ramrod features a gold ferrule. The highly figured burl walnut stock rates very fine, perhaps showing a bit of an old light cleaning many years ago, with lovely grain figure and minor handling marks or drying cracks throughout the highly figured wood, with a couple of lightly darkened areas where a bit of oil or perhaps oxidation staining leached into the wood. The monogram plate is neatly engraved ''Acklen'', and was later over-engraved in a vine-like pattern which has obscured the name slightly, perhaps some years after the family was divested of the arm. It is highly likely that the arm was the property of the Joseph and Adelicia Acklen family of Tennessee. Mrs. Acklen (then Hayes) married a wealthy southern plantation owner at age 22, he some 28 years her senior, and ended up a very very wealthy woman upon his somewhat untimely demise, inheriting an estate that included four Louisiana cotton plantations adding up to 8700 acres, a two-thousand-acre Plantation in Tennessee, more than 50,000 acres of land in Texas, not to mention stocks and bonds, and the slaves her husband had amassed, making her the wealthiest woman in Tennessee. Her second husband, Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, was a hero of the Texas Revolution, and lawyer from Huntsville, Alabama who was appointed United States Attorney for the North Alabama Judicial District. During the Civil War he financed his own Tennessee unit, the Acklen Rifles. In 1863 Joseph died from complications relating to a carriage accident, once again leaving the young lady a widow. It is not too far a stretch to believe that this well-heeled lady or her husband would carry such an arm upon their person when venturing away from the estate or perhaps keep it in the home as protection (more likely both). In a very interesting turn of events, after Joseph died, Miss Adelicia journeyed to Louisiana at the height of the Civil War in an attempt to save cotton there on her plantations, which the Confederate Army had threatened to burn to prevent it from being captured by Union soldiers. She hired a gunboat to take her down the Mississippi River and was able to convince the Confederate General Leonidas Polk, not to burn her cotton, as the two had grown up in the same neighborhood, Polk actually attending her wedding to Jos. Acklen. The cotton was secured and it was learned that Federal gunboats in the area were to be inspected by Admiral David D. Porter. A meeting was set up with the Admiral and he and Captain Ramsey of the gunboat Choctaw issued a permit for transport, and a Union gunboat delivered the cotton to New Orleans. From the port of New Orleans she shipped the cotton to Liverpool where it is purported to have sold to Rothschilds of London for $960,000 in gold. Post-war, she and her children went to England to retrieve the funds and toured Europe, actually being presented to the Court of Napoleon III whilst in France. Indeed, when she remarried in 1867, Napoleon III is said to have been on the guest list but rather than attend, the Emperor sent a diamond tiara to Adelicia which she wore to the reception. It is certainly a romantic notion to imagine the pistol accompanying the comely Mrs. Acklen on her journey throughout Europe, or perhaps even on her sojourn down the Mississippi to save her fortune from both the Confederate and Union armies. Who knows, it is possible that she herself had the name neatly struck from the engraved plate as a sign of respect for her third husband Dr. William Archer Cheatham, whom she married in 1867. An absolutely beautiful Deringer in its own right, no doubt one of the most highly embellished one or the two arms ever made by Deringer, there certainly are no other ''Acklens'' that are likely to have owned such an arm. By the time her ''Acklen children'' were of arms-carrying age, the ''brand-new'' cartridge arms that followed the Civil War would've been all the rage and there would've been no reason to carry such an antiquated, yet beautiful, pocket pistol. The arm is actually pictured in The Deringer in America (volume II) © Eberhardt, on page 96 in a color photograph. A true American treasure and worthy of the finest collection of Deringers, American arms or percussion pistols. (3G9762-5) {ANTIQUE} (10,000/15,000) Categories: firearm Terms and conditions TERMS & CONDITIONS OF SALE The following paragraphs represent the terms under which all sales by Amoskeag Auction Company, Inc. are conducted. Bidding on any item in the sale indicates the bidder’s full acceptance and understanding of all terms and conditions of sale. Amoskeag Auction Company, Inc. has taken great care in the preparation of the descriptions in this catalog. Although we believe everything in the descriptions to be true, we do not guarantee any part of any description. We recommend that the bidders view the items in person and form their own opinions as to condition, originality, origin, etc. Amoskeag Auction Company, Inc. will consider all requests for refunds. If a customer is unhappy with a purchase, we will be happy to discuss a remedy with them. All requests for refunds must be made within 30 days of the sale date. 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