This surprising derringer was commissioned in the 1970s by Walther Buhl Ford III for his wife Bobbie Ford, and hand crafted by Alvin White, Colt’s renowned master engraver. Bobbie Ford was a collector of Western curiosa and particularly enjoyed brothel memorabilia – so that was the theme used by White on this custom pistol. In addition to the inscription “To Bobbie – Every Inch A Lady” and the plaque for “Madame Ford’s Pleasure Palace, 69 Tenderloin St, 1st Class in Every Respect”, is an extra surprise…
Forgotten History
Century-Old Challenge Coin: The American Legion’s 1927 Paris Convention
The American Legion was founded in 1919 as a veterans service organization for soldiers who served in World War One, and they chose the 10th anniversary of America’s entrance into the war to make a […]
Accessories
Sunday Miscellanea
A couple things that came in through the week… First up, Mark Serbu (owner of Serbu Firearms) has a neat video comparing the ATI .22 cal StG44 copy to an original StG44: Also, Leszek pointed […]
Artillery
RIA: Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon Reproduction
The Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon was developed in the 1870s as a competitor to the other manually-operated machine guns of the era, guns like the Gatling, Gardner, and Nordenfelt to name a few. What made the […]
“Kids, don’t look!” Sadly, you know lots of kids will look at smut anyway now due to the “I do what I want because I say so” attitude. But stupidity of mainstream society aside, I must say, that is one heck of a present. Happy Valentines, folks!
Interesting accessory….
Now that is a very cool piece of history. What a sense of humor they both must have had!
rosebud
At first, I was going to say “Wait a minute, that derringer doesn’t have a ramrod.” Then, about thirty seconds later I said, “Never mind.”
Don’t shoot me madam, it’s Valentine day 🙂
Excellent contribution to early ‘spring’ holiday!
I’m not going anywhere near commenting on what he put in her butt….of her gun.
Strangely Walter Buhl Ford III is just a footnote on the internet, and nothing suggests he was ever married!? A grim reminder of what the internet, and especially google, is doing to wipe out history. Ian’s video will almost certainly become the only easily found reference to Bobby(?) Ford.
Ian’s hidden description on you tube that this was made in the 1970’s gives this gift context. If it was commissioned in the 1920’s then many PhD’s on American morals could have resulted; but by the 70’s rich folk had stopped pretending.
Obit says his wife’s name is Roxanne.
I’m guessing she liked “Bobby” better as a nickname than “Roxy”.
Never call a lady by a name she doesn’t like if you want her to like you.
clear ether
eon
you are correct, not much info to be found on Ford. I knew his wife Bobby, whose real name was Barbara. They also had a pair? of Bat Masterson’s guns in their collection. I didn’t get to see this particular gun, but it could have been because I was only 17 at the time.
You give this I’ll be your Valentine.
I’ve seen “bullock daggers.”
This is a first.
That the first time I seen anything like that on a original piece of artwork like that tacticalshit would like that