Deringer Philadelphia Percussion Pistol, USA 1862, 6315 Non-functional replica

Reproduction of a percussion pistol, made of metal and imitation wood plastic, with a simulated loading and firing mechanism.

The Philadelphia Deringer was a muzzle-loading pocket pistol designed by Henry Deringer (1786-1868) and produced from 1852 to 1868. These single-shot, percussion-ignition weapons were intended for use at very close range and were usually sold in pairs; the choice to buy a pair was made to compensate for the short-barreled, single-shot pistol's limited power and unreliability.

Due to its wide availability, the Deringer became very popular, initially among military officers and later among civilians who desired a small, easily concealed pistol for self-defense; it also gained a dubious reputation as the weapon of choice for assassins and poker players.
In 1865, Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary Todd went out to see a performance at Ford's Theatre. As Lincoln sat in the box, John Wilkes Booth, a Maryland actor living in Virginia and a Southern sympathizer, came up behind him and fired a single shot with a round-shot Deringer into the president's head and shouted Sic semper tyrannis! (Latin for "thus always to tyrants," the motto of the state of Virginia).

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 in Hodgenville, Kentucky – April 15, 1865 in Washington, DC) was the 16th President of the United States of America from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict and perhaps also the greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis ever to hit the American nation. At the same time, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government and modernized the economy.

Measurements: 20 cm
Weight: 416 g