19th Century, 1858 Lefrauchaux 7mm Pinfire Pocket Revolver, With Foldaway Trigger. A Pair To The Vincent van Gogh Pistol That Sold for $182,000 in June 2019. A Very Interesting And Inexpensive Original Antique Arms And Armour Collectible

A Lefrauchaux pinfire revolver, 7mm. Calibre. Good strong spring, action non functioning. Wooden grips, foldaway trigger. A pair to the exact same 7mm pinfire revolver, from the same maker, owned by Vincent van Gogh, that he used to despatch himself on the 27th July 1890, he died two days later. However, the Van Gogh Lefreachaux revolver, that sold for $182,000 in June 2019, was in dreadful relic recovered condition. However when Van Gogh used it it would have looked exactly as this pistol.

We show in the gallery a historically significant identical 7mm pinfire revolver that sold in Paris, by Rémy Le Fur & Associates, for $182,000. It was the 7mm Lefrauchaux pinfire that Van Gogh used to shoot himself. We were one of the dozen or so unsuccessful bidders for it, but unfortunately it exceeded our top price that we bid for our American client was willing to pay.

The gun offered at the sale was found in the field in question by a farmer around 1960, and was handed to the current consignor’s mother. The auction house claims there are several factors that point to it being the gun in question: it was discovered in the location where Van Gogh was shot; the 7mm caliber matches that of the bullet retrieved from Van Gogh’s body, and scientific studies suggest that the gun had been on the ground since the 1890s. It is also a fairly small calibre gun, which might explain why the artist didn’t die immediately.

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch:30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, eventually leading to his suicide at age thirty-seven. Interestingly he lived for a time in England as an art salesman, then later as a supply teacher in Ramsgate

These hand made pistols were very popular indeed during the Civil War but very expensive as they took the all new pinfire cartridge, which revolutionised the way revolvers operated, as compared to the old fashioned percussion action. In fact, while the percussion cap & ball guns were still in production such as made by Remington, Colt and Starr and being used in the American Civil War, the much more efficient and faster pinfire guns that were only made from 1861 were the fourth most popular gun chosen, by those that could afford them, during the war. General Stonewall Jackson was presented with two deluxe pinfire pistols with ivory grips, and many other famous personalities of the war similarly used them. The American makers could not possibly fulfill all the arms contracts that were needed to supply the war machine, especially by the non industrialised Confederate Southern States. So, London made guns were purchased, by contract, by the London Armoury Company in great quantities, as the procurement for the war in America was very profitable indeed. They were despatched out in the holds of hundreds of British merchant ships. First of all, the gun and sword laden vessels would attempt to break the blockades, surrounding the Confederate ports, as the South were paying four times or more the going rate for arms, but, if the blockade proved to be too efficient, the ships would then proceed on to the Union ports, such as in New York where the price paid was still excellent, but only around double the going rate. This pistol is the pocket or overcoat size, and is the very size that was so popular, as a fast and efficient personal protector, by many of the senior rank officers of both the US and the CSA armies. They were just as popular well into the Wild West period when this one was made. Rammer removed. Photo in the gallery of a Civil War Union cavalry sergeant with an imported 9mm Pinfire revolver within his belt.

We show in the gallery a historically significant identical 7mm pinfire revolver that sold in Paris, by Rémy Le Fur & Associates, for $182,000. It was the 7mm Lefrauchaux pinfire that Van Gogh used to shoot himself. We were one of the dozen or so unsuccessful bidders for it, but unfortunately it exceeded our top price that our American client was willing to pay.

The gun offered at the sale was found in the field in question by a farmer around 1960, and was handed to the current consignor’s mother. The auction house claims there are several factors that point to it being the gun in question: it was discovered in the location where Van Gogh was shot; the 7mm caliber matches that of the bullet retrieved from Van Gogh’s body, and scientific studies suggest that the gun had been on the ground since the 1890s. It is also a fairly small calibre gun, which might explain why the artist didn’t die immediately.

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch:30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, eventually leading to his suicide at age thirty-seven. Interestingly he lived for a time in England as an art salesman, then later as a supply teacher in Ramsgate. Not suitable for export.

As with all our antique guns no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables

Code: 25729