This high condition cased pair was manufactured by the London Armoury Company c. 1856-1859 before Robert Adams left the company as they switched their focus to Pattern 1853 Rifle-Muskets and later Kerr revolvers for the Confederate States of America. The nearly sequential revolvers are numbered "21272" and "21274" on the right side of the frames and also have "ADAMS' PATENT 37,073" and "ADAMS' PATENT 37,075" below on the frames and "37,073" and "37,075" on the respective cylinders. They have the small "L.A.C." maker's marks on the upper left barrel flats ahead of the London proofs and the retailer mark "WILLIAMS & POWELL. 25. SOUTH CASTLE ST LIVERPOOL." across the top straps and barrels. They are equipped with dovetailed blade front sights, fixed notch rear sights, loading levers on the left, spurred hammers, safety switches on the right, and checkered walnut grips with blued steel pommel caps. The frames have double line borders. The pair comes in a fitted hardwood case with a Williams & Powell trade label inside the lid, green baize lining, Robert Adams 54 bore dual bullet mold, Eley Bros. cap tin, James Dixon & Sons and Sykes marked oilers, bullets, James Dixon & Sons flask, rod, screwdriver, and nipple wrench. An included note from W. James Stuber to Peter J. Ryan in 1973 reads: "According to the purveyor of these percussion pieces, they once belonged to Rufus Bullock, Governor of Georgia from 1868 to 1870. Public Servant Bullock was born in Bethlehem, Albany County, New York in 1834 and died in Atlanta, Georgia in 1907. His career with Adams Express moved him to Augusta, Georgia where he joined the Southern Express Company; he held a commission as Lt. Colonel and was once acting assistant Quartermaster General." Rufus Brown Bullock (1834-1907) is a rather interesting historical figure. He was born in New York and had only recently relocated to Georgia shortly before the outbreak of the American Civil War. Though opposed to secession, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Confederacy and was key in maintaining the telegraph lines, railroads, and freight operations of the rebel states during the war. After the war, he became a key figure in Georgia's 1867 Constitutional Convention and then won the election for governor in April 1868 as a Republican, defeating Democrat John B. Gordon, soon to be the leader of the infamous Ku Klux Klan. Bullock's defense of equal rights and opportunities for black and white Georgians plus his northern birth put him in severe danger, and he sought assistance from President Ulysses S. Grant to enforce the law. This ultimately led to Bullock resigning and fleeing the state. He is portrayed as a corrupt carpetbagger by his opponents and in "Gone with the Wind." However, he returned to Georgia in 1876, was declared not guilty on various charges and became a prominent businessman in Atlanta and was one of the main organizers of the Cotton States and International Exposition held in Atlanta in 1895. He returned to New York towards the end of his life but was well-remembered in the Georgian newspapers upon his death and especially noted for his role in making Atlanta into a thriving city.

Provenance: Governor Rufus Bullock of Georgia; The W. James Stuber Collection; The Peter J. Ryan Collection; Property of a Distinguished Southern Clergyman