The top lot was this Bilharz, Hall and Company Confederate rising breech carbine, delivered to the Confederate forces in September 1862 and used during the Civil War. It attained $41,300 ($30/50,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
WILLISTON, VT. — Saving up consignments for months for this auction that saw much crossover collecting appeal, Merrill’s Auctioneers & Appraisers was pleased with the results of its February 13 auction of historical, sporting, military and antique firearms. The sale featured a wide range of material from a Civil War Confederate carbine to a sword recovered from a gunboat sunk in Lake Champlain in 1776 with both among many lots that outperformed their estimates and elicited strong interest.
“The auction was strong almost throughout the sale,” said owner Ethan Merrill. “A lot of categories exceeded expectations, especially broad target rifles. The Nineteenth Century target rifles did well above what I thought, and that’s not including the Civil War historical materials that also did very well.”
The top lot of the day came early in the auction, within minutes, as a rare Bilharz, Hall and Company Confederate rising breech or rising block carbine fired up bidders and attracted much interest, selling mid-estimate at $41,300. “That was a very rare object, and we had interest from parties all over the country,” Merrill added. The carbine made by the Pittsylvania Court House, Va.-based company was marked as number 21 of a believed run of 100 prototypes. According to the catalog, these firearms were delivered to the Confederate Ordnance Department in September 1862 and used sporadically throughout the war within various units. Off the market for the last six decades, the carbine was consigned from the collection of an advanced Vermont gun collector, and research indicates there are only about 20 of these guns known to exist today.
Bringing $24,780 was this 20-inch sword, recovered from the debris field after Continental Navy gunboat USS Philadelphia was sunk in Lake Champlain in October 1776 during the Battle of Valcour Island ($200/300).
The auction saw an array of antique firearms on offer, spanning the centuries and across the country. Another auction standout at $24,780 was a 20-inch sword, recovered from the debris field after a Continental Navy gunboat, the USS Philadelphia, was sunk in Lake Champlain during the Battle of Valcour Island in October 1776 as British forces chased Benedict Arnold and the American fleet up the lake. The boat and many of its artifacts were recovered and brought back on land by Colonel Lorenzo Hagglund in 1935. The actual ship went to the Smithsonian’s American History Museum in Washington, DC. Built in 1776, the Philadelphia is said to be the oldest American fighting vessel in existence.
Other military artifacts with provenance to Colonel Hagglund include a 10-inch-long dirk from the debris field of the Philadelphia that realized $2,950; a one-pound swivel-gun cannonball from the Royal Savage, also used in the Valcour battle, that sold with an Eighteenth Century grappling hook for $2,360; and a 73-piece lot of iron cannonballs and lead shot from the Philadelphia debris field, which made $2,430.
Inuit art was also well represented in the auction, led by a large two-part soapstone carving having inlaid stone elements by Jonasie Quarqortoq Faber (b 1944), dated 2014, that took $8,960. In total, the sculpture, which was on a revolving stand, weighed about 80 pounds.
This highly decorated Eighteenth Century Indo-Persian armor set with fine inlay made $7,300 ($1/2,000). It included a kulah khud helmet, dhal or sipar shield, vambrace arm guard, pike blade and hauberk chainmail shirt.
Militaria and armor collectors sat up and took notice for a highly decorated Eighteenth Century Indo-Persian armor set as it bested its $1/2,000 estimate to earn $7,330. Featuring hammered steel with Damascene gold and silver inlaid designs and Arabic or Quranic calligraphy, the set included a kulah khud helmet, dhal or sipar shield, vambrace arm guard, pike blade and a hauberk chainmail shirt.
Other weaponry standouts were an early Nineteenth Century US Naval officer’s presentation dagger ($7,040), a Smith and Wesson “Volcanic” Number 1 pistol selling just over high estimate ($5,760) and a World War II-era J. Unertl USMC 8x sniper scope with its original case ($5,120).
Civil War artifacts were liberally sprinkled into this sale, ranging from a Tenth Regiment Vermont Volunteers “blue box” in soldier blue, used to carry fragile documents and personal possessions, that sold above its $300/500 estimate at $2,430, and a set of albumen cabinet photos relating to the Sixth Vermont Regiment, attributed to photographer George Houghton, who accompanied the regiment to Virginia ($3,840).
Rounding out the auction was a grouping of six advertising powder tins, with examples including Dead Shot Triple Refined American Powder Company with an illustration of a hunter and dog in the field, an Enfield Powder Company tin with eagle and a Snap Shot tin featuring a wounded mallard duck. The six-tin collection brought $2,048.
Merrill’s next auction will be on March 20, devoted to Adirondack and Arts and Crafts art and design. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For more information, www.merrillsauction.com or 802-878-2625.
