Smith & Wesson of Norwich, Connecticut, manufactured fewer than 500 of these .41 caliber large frame No. 2 Volcanic pistols between 1854-1855, per page 25 of "Volcanic Firearms" (2011) by Lewis and Rutter. They are based on a patent of Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson and were manufactured prior to the subsequent renaming of the company to Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855. The company was then reorganized by Oliver Winchester as the New Haven Arms Company in 1857 which would ultimately become the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1866. Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson continued to pursue their own development of revolvers starting around 1856, and the rest is history. Surviving examples of these early Smith & Wesson Volcanics are scarce and extremely desirable in any condition, as part of the beginning of the development of lever action repeaters that evolved into the Henry and Winchester 1866 rifles, and they also mark the very beginning of Smith & Wesson. This factory engraved, large frame No. 2 Volcanic lever action pistol has an 8 inch barrel, and the distinctive "Type II" features which include a crowned muzzle and rounded magazine locking spring. The frame has a hump behind the lever, the loading lever has a finger spur, the barrel has an integral 10-shot magazine below, a bead front sight, and a screw-fastened notch rear sight on top of the frame. The top barrel flat is roll-stamped with the three-line legend "SMITH &WESSON/PATENT/NORWICH. CT." ahead of "CAST-STEEL". The hammer has fine hand-knurling on the spur. The receiver sides, top, backstrap, sideplates, and back of the hammer are decorated with the well-executed, open scroll factory engraving. The matching serial number "209" is marked on the back of the rear sight, the left side of the grip frame, and handwritten on the interiors of the grip panels.