A circa 1829 Russian M. 1805 12-pound bronze field gun being sold to benefit the acquisition fund of the Massachusetts National Guard Museum, where it was displayed until just recently, brought the highest price in the sale, going to a private collector bidding on the phone who won it for $81,130.
Review by W.A. Demers, Photos Courtesy Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers
CRANSTON, R.I. – Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers conducted its first-ever historic arms and militaria auction on May 1, the sale featuring more than 400 lots of historic material from the American Revolution through to the modern day. A circa 1829 Russian M. 1805 12-pound bronze field gun being sold to benefit the acquisition fund of the Massachusetts National Guard Museum, where it was displayed until just recently, was the sale’s heavy hitter, selling for $81,130 against a $30/50,000 estimate and going to a private collector bidding on the phone. The 69½-inch-long field piece is marked “1829/Bryansk” on the breech with the foundry name and has plain dolphins on the gun’s top. The gun is mentioned in Chuck Veit’s The Yankee Expedition to Sebastopol: John Gowan and the Raising of the Russian Black Sea Fleet 1857-1862 (2014). During the Siege of Sebastopol, the Russian navy scuttled many of their ships to block the harbor. After the siege was over, the Russian government hired an American engineer, Colonel John E. Gowan of Lynn, Mass., to raise the ships and salvage the war materials onboard. Between 1857 and 1862 he cleared the bay and was presented this cannon by the Russian government. In 1870, Gowan presented the gun to the Lynn Light Infantry, a unit of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and it was displayed on the third floor of the armory for many years. During the Twentieth Century, it was moved a few times and was on display at the Massachusetts Army National Guard museum in Concord until earlier this year.
Totaling $1,075,450, the remarkable inaugural sale of historic arms and military was assembled by Joel Bohy, who was tapped by Bruneau & Co as its new director of the category late last summer. Like his colleagues Kevin Bruneau and Travis Landry, Bohy, is an appraiser on PBS television’s Antiques Roadshow. He formed his interest in the material from a young age. In an earlier interview, he told Antiques and The Arts Weekly, “I grew up in Concord, Mass., not far from where the battle that started the American Revolution happened on April 19, 1775. As a child I was infatuated with it and spent a lot of time walking the sites and reading primary accounts – that really sparked an interest in the material culture. As I got older, I would visit local museums and historical societies to track down objects in their collections related to the time. It is something I still do and really enjoy.”
A circa 1799-1802 US North & Cheney second contract pistol, model 1799, .74 bore, with serial number 697 marked on the shoulder of the breech plug, on the bottom of the barrel at the breech and under the barrel on the brass frame, realized nearly twice its high estimate, selling for $59,040.
“Working with the Bruneau team over the past months to build this auction has been a lot of fun,” said Bohy. “The catalog features the collection of Larry Cooley. Larry collected some of the finest US martial arms from the late Eighteenth to the mid-Nineteenth Century and we were thrilled to offer them.”
Speaking after the sale, Bohy said he believed it went “very well…It was a great success, which is good.”
Also sold to benefit the acquisition fund of the Massachusetts National Guard Museum was a US Navy 350-pound breech loading howitzer, circa 1880, which realized $28,290. With a 3-inch rifled bore, this gun was on the Massachusetts naval militia ship Enterprise. It was also purchased by a private collector.
Many of the top selling lots were from the Cooley collection. “Larry is a very sophisticated collector of early US martial pistols,” explained Bohy. “He collected for most of his life and he was a buyer of condition and rarity. He bought the best examples he could get of each type of martial pistol and their variations. He assembled quite a collection over the years and it was great to be able to handle it prior to the sale.”
A circa 1837 US Navy Elgin cutlass pistol, .54 bore with a walnut grip, was one of only 150 cutlass pistols made from a US Navy contract, with the blades made by N.P. Ames. This example won the Gun Collector Committee’s Best of Show trophy at the NRA annual meeting in 2016, in an exhibition titled “US Military Pistols: Evolution to Perfection.” It sold for $39,360.
Fetching $59,040, far above its $10/15,000 estimate, was a pattern 1798 horseman’s pistol. From the collection of Larry Cooley and formerly in the collection of Dr Walter Peterson, the US pistol made circa 1798-99 was one of only 398 pistols that were delivered in 1799 by Robert McCormick and John Miles. This gun is attributed to John Miles, as McCormick stamped his name on the stocks of the guns he supplied. Miles delivered 200 pistols to the United States in 1799. “That was my favorite of Larry’s collection,” said Bohy. “I expected it to do well but I didn’t expect it to do that well.” Bohy added that it went to a private collection.
The Cooley collection also contributed a Model 1799 North & Cheney second contract pistol, which also finished at $59,040 against a $20/30,000 expectation. Circa 1799-1802, this firearm had the serial number 697 marked on the shoulder of the breech plug, at the bottom of the barrel at the breech, and under the barrel on the brass frame.
A US Navy Elgin cutlass pistol from the Cooley collection, which was bid to $39,360, was one of only 150 cutlass pistols made from a US Navy contract with the blades being produced by N.P. Ames. The circa 1837 weapon featured a walnut grip and was marked on the left breech and frame “100-100.” Its barrel measured 5 inches and its overall length reached 17¼ inches.
Sold to benefit the acquisition fund of the Massachusetts National Guard Museum was this US Navy 350-pound breech loading howitzer, circa 1880, which had seen service was on the Massachusetts naval militia ship Enterprise and realized $28,290.
A Virginia Manufactory 2nd Model flintlock pistol had previously been in the collection of Giles Cromwell before coming to Cooley. Finishing at $24,600, the circa 1812 pistol had a walnut stock with light stocker’s initials and a star on the left side. This pistol is one of the very few made using a wooden ramrod during 1812-1813 before armorers began using a swivel-type ramrod. Cromwell wrote about it in his book The Virginia Manufactory of Arms, (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1975).
Going out at $19,680 was a Model 1808 Navy flintlock pistol that had carried an $8/12,000 estimate. Circa 1808-10 and 16 inches long, it had a walnut stock, brass butt cap, trigger guard, side plate and ramrod pipe. At the 2016 N.R.A. annual meeting, it was awarded a “Best of Show” trophy by the Gun Collector Committee.
There were notable edged weapons in the sale as well. A Boston silver-hilted sword by William Cowell Jr, estimated just $5/7,000 doubled its high estimate to reach $14,760. The circa 1740-50 sword from an Illinois collection featured a silver hilt with “W. Cowell” touchmark on the top of the knuckle bow, a silver wire-covered wood grip, a triangular colichemarde-form blade, 29 inches long, with a leather washer at the base of the hilt and a leather-covered wood scabbard with a silver throat. Cowell was a Boston silversmith born in 1713. He was apprenticed to his father and began in the trade in 1734 until his death in 1761. Examples of Cowell’s work are in museums, galleries and institutions.
A Virginia Manufactory 2nd Model flintlock pistol had previously been in the collection of Giles Cromwell, who wrote about it in his book The Virginia Manufactory of Arms. Finishing at $24,600, the circa 1812 pistol is one of the very few made using a wooden ramrod during 1812-1813 before armorers began using a swivel-type ramrod.
Wragg & Sons’ folding Californian Bowie knife also attracted bids, bringing $4,413, while a Broadhurst spear point Bowie knife and sheath took $7,380, and a Will & Fink Bowie knife and sheath earned $8,610.
The first lot across the block in this sale selling for $11,070, was a historic cow powder horn that belonged to Eli Kimball and had descended in the family to the consignor. Catalog notes offered a wealth of information about this Revolutionary War figure, stating “Eli Kimball was born in Bradford, Mass., on April 3, 1759, and between then and 1775 he and his family moved to the town of Amherst, N.H. Though no rolls have been found for his early service, the date on his horn, October 30, 1776, and his location at Mount Independence place him around Fort Ticonderoga during the time of General Benedict Arnold’s defeat at the Battle of Valcour Island on October 11-12, 1776. On July 18, 1777, General John Stark was authorized to organize a force of militia to thwart British forces moving south from Canada under General John Burgoyne. On July 21, 1777, Kimball’s name appears on a roll for Captain John Bradford’s company, Colonel Moses Nichols Regiment who were to muster at Fort Number 4 near Charlestown, N.H., as a part of General Stark’s New Hampshire force and fought at the Battle of Bennington (Walloomsac, Town of Hoosick, N.Y.) on August 16, 1777. He was released from service on September 27, 1777, and, according to the Kimball family genealogy, died in 1783 at the age of 24.”
The cow horn with pine plug was carved with foliate designs, incised lines with hash marks, a fish, and “Eli Kimball Hif Horn Made At Mt. Inde/Pendance On Octoberx30x1776x About/The Time Of General Arnolf Defeat On/Lake Champplain.”
Awarded a “Best of Show” trophy by the Gun Collector Committee at a 2016 NRA annual meeting, this Model 1808 Navy flintlock pistol, 16 inches long with walnut stock, brass butt cap, trigger guard, side plate and ramrod pipe, was bid to $19,680.
“The family did not know a lot about it,” said Bohy regarding the powder horn. As soon as I saw the images of it, I was able to figure out the history of Eli Kimball and put it all together. I spent a lot of time on that – it’s the type of thing that fascinates me and that’s why I chose to lead off the sale with it.”
A New York map horn was also offered and brought $7,995.
Returning to historic pistols, a Model 1842 Palmetto Armory percussion pistol, one of 1,000 assembled at the Palmetto Armory at Columbia, S.C., from parts obtained from Ira N. Johnson, more than doubled its high estimate to realize $14,760, while a Model 1805 Harper’s Ferry pistol, circa 1808, drew $13,530, and a Joseph Henry Navy contract pistol changed hands at $9,840.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as stated by the auction house. Bohy is putting together the next sale in the category, slated for the fall. For information, 401-533-9980 or www.bruneauandco.com.
