Rare Original Hale & Tuller 1830s Underhammer Percussion Pistol

A rare original “US”-marked Hale & Tuller Percussion Underhammer Pistol made in the late 1830s. This 187+ year-old pistol is in Antique Very Good condition with extensive loss of bluing and typical handling marks. Original Maple wood grips with a couple of hairline cracks. (See photos.)  It features a 6-inch octagon and tapered round barrel. Caliber: .36 percussion. Serial # 140. Also stamped with a “115” assembly number under the barrel. Made sometime between 1837 and 1840. These rare pistols were believed to have all been manufactured at the Connecticut State Prison at Wethersfield, Hartford County, with inmate labor.  Barrel is marked:  “HALE & TULLER / HARTFORD / CONNECTICUT”  and “US”.  Also marked “Warranted Cast Steel” on the side of the barrel. Original manuscript contracts dated 1837 and 1838 between William Tuller and Amos Pillsbury, the Warden of the Connecticut State Prison were discovered in the late 1970s. Pillsbury (1805-1873) was a famous prison reformer. He was the warden at the Wethersfield prison from 1830 to 1845. His biography states:  “…he was the first warden of a prison who caused the prisoners to earn more than their own support, and was the first prison-keeper who introduced the practice of reading the Bible daily to the prisoners assembled.” The contracts called for the use of prison labor within the walls of the State Prison to produce these guns. Only a few hundred were produced and perhaps just a few dozen still exist. Finding one with a “US” marking is a genuine rarity. Tuller was a Hartford tinware and stove merchant, and not known as a gunmaker. So it is surmised that he partnered with gunmaker H.J. Hale to oversee the actual pistol manufacturing at the prison.  A fascinating bit of New England history!   (KGNE-183)