Phillippe J Bouron was born in France circa 1834, with at least one resource placing his date of birth on 1 May 1835. He Immigrated to the United States in 1847, arriving from Le Harve, France in New Orleans on October 20 of that year aboard the ship John Cadmus. Like so many European immigrants, his name was apparently Americanized upon his arrival with “Philip” replacing his original give name “Phillippe”. By the age of 15 Bouron was apprenticed to New Orleans gunsmith Theodore Leduc. With that employment, Bouron began his family’s involvement with gunsmithing and the retailing of firearms in New Orleans which would last for a nearly a century. By 1858 Bouron was working as a gunsmith in the shop of Armand Soubie who was located at 160 Chartres Street. The following year Bouron was listed as a gunsmith at 120 Chartres Street and by 1861 he had apparently bought the business of his former employer as an 1877 New Orleans newspaper ad proclaimed that Bouron was the “…successor to Armand Soubie”. Coincidentally Soubie disappears from the city directories about that same time. 

Like most of the gunsmiths in southern port cities during the Antebellum period, Bouron not only repaired guns, but retailed them as well as other sporting goods, ranging from firearms accessories like bullet molds, powder flasks and shot pouches to fishing tackle and related outdoor equipment. Many of these items were imported from places like Great Britain and Belgium. The firearms ranged from high end English revolvers and fine sporting arms to lower end, pedestrian percussion shotguns from Liège. At least one example of a high-grade Adams percussion revolver is known in a Bouron marked case with Bouron retailer markings on the gun, which belonged to Confederate General William T Martin. However, the range of items imported and sold by the firm were certainly wide ranging. 

With the coming of the American Civil War Bouron likely sold out of imported arms rather quickly and certainly would have found it difficult to acquire new inventory as the Union blockage began to squeeze southern ports. A search of the Confederate Citizen Files reveals a handful of receipts for the repair of revolvers for Confederate forces who were charged with the defense of the Mississippi River. One of these receipts is dated April 15, 1862, only ten days before the major Union push to take New Orleans, a campaign that was executed in earnest from April 25 to May 1 of that year. Other records indicate that Bouron did some repairs and alterations of muskets for Confederate forces as well.

With the fall of New Orleans, it is not clear how Bouron and his family made a living, as the importation and sale of firearms was certainly prohibited by the Union occupying forces. During the course of the war, Bouron had two sons, George who was born in 1861 and Louis who was born in 1863. Both of his sons would join the family business in the 1870s and 1880s. A third son would be born in 1875 and would also join the family business. Philip Bouron would die in 1905, but the firm would remain in business through the mid-1940s, with the death of son Louis in 1943 ending the nearly century long period in business, which earned the Bouron’s the reputation of being “one of the oldest gun shops in America,” as noted in a 1932 interview with Louis in a New Orleans paper. Interestingly, that interview sounds like it could have been done with a modern gun shop owner as Louis complained about the “foolish laws” regarding firearms, as a “decent man has to get permission from everybody but the president before he can carry as gun; nobody carries them much but thugs, and they’ve got no appreciation for beautiful workmanship.” The excerpts from the interview make the Bouron shop circa 1932 sound like a miniature version of Bannerman’s Island, as they dealt in antique and historic arms in addition to current production guns and the reporter noted that upon his entry to the shop he saw “a flintlock that fired at Revolutionary redcoats” which was near “a musket carried during the War of 1812”and then a “war scarred gun, bearing the date 1861; and lying nearby is a sword worn by a German officer during the unpleasant ear that ended in 1918.”

Offered here is a very rare P Bouron marked English import Transitional Revolver. The gun itself represents the type of inexpensive imported firearms that were likely much of the Bouron business in the late 1850s and early 1860s. These “transitional” revolvers were an evolutionary step between the revolving barrel pepperbox pistols of the 1840s and 1850s and the traditional percussion revolvers that were becoming ubiquitous by the early 1850s. The guns typically featured double action only bar hammer actions with cylinders that resembled the barrel clusters of the pepperboxes they were replacing mated with a single barrel. These guns had a fairly short production life, primarily from the late 1840s through the late 1850s and by the time that Bouron was running his own shop circa 1858-1859 these guns were essentially becoming obsolete. As such, they were a perfect cheap handgun to import for sale to the New Orleans populace.

This Transitional Revolver is a 54-Bore (.442 caliber) percussion ignition handgun with the usual double action only, bar hammer mechanism. The round frame is lightly engraved with simple flowing foliate scroll motifs, with the backstrap, triggerguard, hammer and butt cap engraved ensuite. In a throwback to the features of the pepperboxes that these guns evolved from, there is a cap box in the butt of the gun. The revolver has an unfluted six-chambered cylinder with 90-degree nipples. The revolver has no rear sight but the 5 ¾” octagonal barrel does have a post front sight. The bore is rifled with nine deep grooves. The simple rounded grip is typical of the English pepperboxes of the 1840s and has two piece checkered walnut grips. The top of the barrel is engraved:

JAs HARPER IMPROV’D

This is likely a reference to Birmingham gunsmith James Harper who worked circa 1842-1872 at 85 Weaman Street. The gun shows the typical post-1813 Birmingham commercial proof marks under the barrel and between the chambers of the cylinder. The most important mark on the gun is a two-line gang stamp under the barrel that reads:

BOURON & SON IMPORTERS

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

This style and type of stamp is consistent with the handful of known Bouron stamped items.

The revolver is in about GOOD+ to NEAR VERY GOOD condition overall. The gun retains some traces of bright blue, primarily under the barrel, mixed with a moderately oxidized grayish-brown patina with some areas that are more of a dusky bluish-black color. The metal is partly smooth with evenly distributed freckles of oxidized surface roughness and some light pitting here and there. There are also some scattered impact marks, dings and mars present on the metal as well. The engraved barrel marking remains legible, as does the Bouron mark under the barrel. The engraving remains visible as well, although it does show some wear and thinning to the decorations. The action of the revolver remains functional, but the timing is far from perfect and sometimes the bar hammer falls between the percussion cones and not on them. Pulling the hammer slowly and deliberately provides the best results in terms of timing. The percussion cones all appear to be original to the revolver with three of the cones showing heavy battering and flattening, with the other three in much better condition. There is also some minor chipping and wear to the face of the hammer where it hits the cones. The bore of the revolver is in FAIR condition and is dark and dirty with moderate to heavy pitting, but strong rifling present. The grips have been lightly sanded but retain decent checkering and are free of any breaks or repairs. The wood does show some scattered bumps, dings and mars, but the wear is commensurate with the condition of the balance of the gun.

Overall, this is a solid example of the kinds of cheap percussion handguns that were imported into cities like New Orleans from England during the late Antebellum period. The gun has a wonderful, rare New Orleans retailer mark and this makes it a very special handgun. Bouron marked guns are exceedingly rare and for any serious collector of pre-Civil War southern retailer marked guns, this is a mark that is almost certainly missing from the collection. If you have guns from other famous New Orleans retailers and importers like Hyde & Goodrich or Kernigan, you really need to add this gun to your collection to round out your collection of New Orleans marked handgun.

ON HOLD/LAYAWAY