Need help identifying a very old cap gun!!

[GavinoGambino]

Found this while on break at work today. Our business is located on a very old street/sidewalk in a neighborhood dating back to the mid 1800s in St. Paul, MN. As you can see the gun is extremely rusted, please help me identify the brand/name of this gun. Thanks! -Gavin

 

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[Tony in SC]

Good candidate for electrloisis!! Tony

 

[Mud Hut]

Looks like a circa 1896 GEM made by Ideal

 

[GavinoGambino]

I think thats it! Thanks Mud.

 

[Mud Hut]

I think thats it! Thanks Mud.

You are welcome .. That's a nice find.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[NorthernTesoro]

Nice find, I've found two cap guns so far but not that old!

 

[Massieville Mike]

Congratulations, a very cool find indeed!

 

[MichiganMan]

I've never done electrolysis on an item before. I think this piece looks pretty cool just like it is. Would electrolysis improve it much?

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[texasred777]

Great find! In the late 1940s, my family bought an old house that needed a lot of work and remodeling. While the baseboards were off in one room, I found a cap pistol in the opening. The handle looked a lot like the one you found. It had a lot of scroll work. Similar to yours, it had the two sides/halves, two brads/rivets to hold it together, and a trigger. Instead of having a hammer, mine had a little steam locomotive engine mounted on it that 'ran' down and 'popped' the cap at the end of the barrel. I wish I had the time to draw a picture of it, scan it, and post it. I sold the little gun in the 1970s to a lady antique dealer for $50. I was told by a historian at a Jr. college that it was at that time worth no more the $25. I've always wished that I had kept it.
If you picture yours without the hammer, and a slot on top that begins just above the trigger, with a train engine in the slot, and a square on top of the end of the barrel that was made to accept a cap, you would have a pretty good idea of what mine looked like. There were only 7 parts, the two sides/housing, two rivets, the trigger, the train engine, and the spring. Mine was in excellent condition until I let a man hold it. He accidently dropped it onto a concrete floor and cracked one side of the housing. It still functioned ok, but the crack made it worth a lot less. Sometime I'll try to draw a picture of it and post it to see if anyone else has seen one. All the time I had it, I never ran across anyone that had seen one. The historian said that he had only seen pictures similar to it.

 

[GavinoGambino]

Nice find, I've found two cap guns so far but not that old!

Thanks Northern, this is actually my second cap gun too, surprisingly within the first month of my metal detecting career! Here is what i believe is part of a Hubley "Texas" model, a specific year would be much appreciated if anyone could elaborate more on this gun. (Both pieces were found about a week apart near an old school ground)

 

[Mud Hut]

Thanks Northern, this is actually my second cap gun too, surprisingly within the first month of my metal detecting career! Here is what i believe is part of a Hubley "Texas" model, a specific year would be much appreciated if anyone could elaborate more on this gun. (Both pieces were found about a week apart near an old school ground) View attachment 1066762

From what I can see from the scroll work, I am reasonably sure those are parts from a 1960 era Maverick, made by H, Schmidt or by Leslie Henry.

 

[texasred777]

I forgot to mention that the little cap gun that the historian told me that the gun was probably made somewhere between the mid to late 1800s. If I could draw, which I'm dismal failure at trying to do, I would draw a picture of it and see if anyone knew more about it.

 

[Mud Hut]

I forgot to mention that the little cap gun that the historian told me that the gun was probably made somewhere between the mid to late 1800s. If I could draw, which I'm dismal failure at trying to do, I would draw a picture of it and see if anyone knew more about it.

Yours sounds like a "Lightening Express" made by Kenton, circa 1900-1910

 

[Mud Hut]

Yours sounds like a "Lightening Express" made by Kenton, circa 1900-1910

Here is a pic of the gun I think you are talking about:

 

[dieselordie]

so much patina.....

i have a cap gun from 1930ish and its a luger/parabe;llum the length of my pinky. im guessing (not sure if im correct) under all that you have one of the original cap gun, to me it looks like a micro flint lockingpistol

 

[texasred777]

Mad Hut! Yes!! That's it exact-tically!! Thanks a million! Now I can do a little research and see just what I had. Gee! After all these years.