A set of pistols belonging to Founding Father Alexander Hamilton will be auctioned by Christie’s starting January 18 — and could fetch an eye-watering $500,000.
The pocket Flintlock pistol, which was used for personal use, was not the weapon Hamilton used in his ill-fated 1804 duel with Aaron Burr, in which he died of his wounds.
“It’s small enough that they can fit one in each pocket, which is why it’s sold two at a time,” said Martha Willoughby, an expert in Christie’s Americana department.
“It’s perfect for close range defense … if you’re attacked by thieves or something, that’s when it’ll come in handy.”
Hamilton, the founder of the New York Post, was a Revolutionary War officer and the nation’s first secretary of the treasury.
He was living in the Big Apple when he got the gun, which was mounted steel with an alloy of gold and copper on walnut.
Hamilton, the founder of the New York Post, was a Revolutionary War officer and the nation’s first secretary of the treasury. Universal History Archive/Universal Image Collection via Getty Images
They are engraved with Hamilton’s initials, “AH,” but it is not known whether he bought them himself or they were gifted to him.
“He was the most wanted lawyer in New York, so he had a lot of business and a lot of French clients,” Willoughby explained. “He was connected to the top office of political figures from [Marquis de] Lafayette to [Charles Maurice de] Talleyrand. This could be a diplomatic gift.”
The pistols are engraved with Hamilton’s initials. Christie’s
Their keyplates are engraved with “Jalabert/Lamotte/St Etienne,” which stands for French gunsmith Jean-Louis Jalabert and his wife, Marie-Anne Lamotte, and the city in France where they are based. The weapon dates between 1798 and 1804.
Willoughby explains that for their small size, the guns have a high caliber, which refers to the width of their opening, and can hold relatively large bullets.
Christie’s acquired the gun through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which bought it from Hamilton’s great-grandson, Schuyler Van Cortlandt Hamilton, in 1950. The item was on display at the museum from 1956 to the early 1970s.
They will be sold at a live auction at Christie’s Rockefeller Center location downtown.
Another pair of Hamilton’s pistols, which he carried during the Revolutionary War, sold at auction in 2021 for $1.15 million.
His most famous weapon — the one from his fight with Burr — belonged to Hamilton’s brother-in-law, John Barker Church and was purchased by JPMorgan Chase, formerly The Manhattan Company, which both aided Hamilton and Burr, in 1930. They are now housed in the headquarters Park Avenue the bank but not exhibited to the public.
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