Dirk Lagerwij

All photos included here are from Old West Daily Reader Contributor Dirk Lagerwij (006) and used by permission. You need to get his permission too, if you want use any. Dirk sometimes has a few guns for sale and may be looking for specific guns. His website address is on the Links to Friends page. Dirk  lives in Holland and collects early American and Old West firearms. He’s a big fan of derringers and here’s the first of two pages of these early small guns. Production dates and statistics were provided by Dirk. Peruse this gentleman’s fine collection and be amazed at the variety, the numbers of these guns produced and the diligence of Dirk’s efforts to preserve them for us!  Note particularly,  the Henry Deringer Pocket Pistol (2nd down, left). the genesis of the name name for these small guns and the very same type of pistol that John Wilkes Booth used to kill the 16th. President of The United States, Abraham Lincoln. These guns were small and easily carried; sometimes as backups, often the only gun a person had. Favorites of the the soiled doves. When you didn’t wear much, your gun had to be small!  All Photos: © Dirk Lagerwij

G.D.H. Gillespie Pocket Pistol, Produced c. 1850's to 1860's

Andrew Wurfflein Pocket Pistol, Produced c. 1850's to 1860's,.41 cal.