POTD: Another Rollin White Victim – The Prescott Navy Revolver
Sam.S 10.26.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! The Prescott Navy was a .38 rimfire 6-shooter produced from 1861-1863 by E.G. Prescott out of New Hampshire. But manufacturing got shut down after just a couple of years when it turned out Prescott’s bored-through cylinder violated Rollin White’s patent. So Smith & Wesson slapped them with an infringement lawsuit that ended production of the Prescott after maybe a few hundred were made. A handful saw use as private purchase sidearms in the Civil War, with some bought by Kansas militia units. The Prescott came in iron or brass frames, with the rarer iron-framed models constituting about 25% of the small production run. While the short-lived Prescott Navy didn’t get much of a chance for martial fame, it was quality piece handicapped by restrictive patents. Today, these rare early revolvers exemplify the rapid engineering advancements of the cap and ball era – as well as the legal wrangles that could cut short innovation.
Lot 143: Five Handguns – A) Prescott Navy Model Single Action Revolver with Holster. (n.d.-c). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved October 25, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/1034/143/five-handguns.
