William Mills was a London gunmaker who was apprenticed to William Parker in 1797 and by the early 1820s was working on his own in London. In 1821, the London directories show him working at 59 Judd Street in Brunswick Square. The following year he relocated to 120 High Holborn Street, where the business would remain until 1843. Mills died in 1837, but his son William continued the business under his father’s name. The moniker W. Mills & Son began to be used circa 1836, when the company became a Gunmaker to Ordnance (1836-1839) and a Gun Maker to the Honorable East India Company (1836-1843). The firm went bankrupt in 1843. 

Mills was known for production superimposed load firearms based upon Jacob Mould’s patent. Mould had received English patent #5099 in 1825 for his design, which was produced by both Mills and Boyce & Co. More importantly, during William Mills working life he was also partnered with American ex-patriot Elisha Collier who was working in London and was famous for inventing and producing one of the first successful revolver designs. Collier’s flintlock revolvers were primarily produced by John Evans, with the Collier design being improvements on fellow American Artemus Wheeler’s revolving firearm design. During the 1830s, as the percussion cap was becoming an accepted form of ignition to replace the flintlock system, Mills produced percussion versions of Collier’s patent revolvers. Some extant examples are known marked “Mills’ Patent – Late Mills & Collier.” Mills apparently acquired the rights to produce Collier patent revolvers circa 1830 and also patented some improvements and simplifications of the design. The Collier & Mills partnership appears to have been fairly brief, with the pair only appearing to be working in partnership circa 1830-1835.

During the same period that burgeoning revolver designs were entering the market, Mills was also producing high-quality firearms of all types. He was obviously interested in early “repeating” firearms as he was producing Mould patent percussion firearms, which use a sliding lock design similar to the  Jennings superimposed load sliding lock flintlock firearms made in American during the mid-1820s. The fact that Mills was producing repeating percussion firearms based upon two rather interesting patents during the early 1830s certainly indicates both his forward thinking in firearms design and his ability to craft complex weapons.

From the introduction of single shot muzzleloading firearms, gunmakers had searched for a way to increase the volume of fire that the guns were capable of by offering more than one discharge per loading. The easiest and likely first solution to this conundrum was simply to create multi-barrel weapons with each barrel containing its own charge. This created its own series of design issues to overcome. The easiest and most commonly known solution is the classic double barrel shotgun or rifle. These were essentially two complete weapons that shared one stock, with each barrel, lock and ignition system operating independently of the other. The biggest advantage to such designs is their simplicity and reliability. If the first barrel failed to discharge, the second barrel with its own separate mechanism was almost certainly going to function. It is this concept that makes the double rifle the preferred weapon to this day for use when hunting dangerous game, the second half of the gun is essentially independent from the first half of the gun. However, during the flintlock era, any kind of double barrel gun was rather bulky due to the size of the locks, and the flintlock system was not well suited for use on double barreled pistols. One solution was the adoption of the “tap action” lock, where a single box lock flint mechanism was used to ignite two or more barrels that were typically arranged in an “over & under” design, rather than a “side-by-side” design. This made the handguns more compact and easier to carry but had some disadvantages. First the “tap” had to be operated to switch the flash channel from the pan to the second barrel and in many designs the pan had to be reprimed for the second shot. While this was faster than a complete reload, it was not nearly as fast has a complete, second mechanism. The other disadvantage was the use of a single lock mechanism, which meant if the lock failed in any way, the second barrel could not be discharged. 

The introduction of the percussion system allowed for the production of double barrel pistols with more compact locks and made an over and under double barrel percussion pistol a legitimate option for someone who wanted more than a single shot in their handgun. These designs had the advantage of the redundant lock and barrel mechanisms and for those who carried a handgun for serious purposes during the decades of the 1830s through 1850s, these guns were often considered more reliable and robust than early repeating handguns, such as pepperboxes, “transitional revolvers” and early conventional single action and double action revolvers. In fact, as late as the period of the Crimean War, some British officers were still carrying over and under percussion pistols in the field as they simply did not trust the “new-fangled” revolver designs.

Offered here is a wonderful pair of Over & Under Percussion Pistols by William Mills of London in their original case. The pistols are very well made and were certainly very high-quality arms when they were made. The guns were probably produced during the 1830s, and possibly as late as 1843, by Mills’ son after his death in 1837. The barrel addresses, which read:

»»W. MILLS IMPROV’D 120 HOLBORN LONDON ««

indicate that the guns were produced between 1822 and 1843 while the Mills firm was at that address, but likely were not made any early than about 1830 due to the percussion ignition system. The pair of guns are both nominally 30-Bore (about .536 caliber) smoothbore and are of the over & under barrel design with a pair of opposing independent box lock percussion locks which are activated by double triggers. The barrels are forged from a single piece of metal and are not two independent barrels joined with a rib as many double barrel sporting arms were built during the period. The 4 ½” barrels are oblong octagons in cross section with the wide slab sides of the barrels being fluted along their center lines to reduce weight. The guns are nominally 10 ½” in overall length and weigh in at a fairly substantial 2 pounds, 6 ounces each. Due to the mostly metal construction and the heavy double barrels, the pistols are somewhat muzzle heavy in the hand. The grips are one-piece walnut and are finely checkered with engraved German silver grip caps and lozenge shaped German silver wrist escutcheons to allow the personalization of the guns. They pistols feature captive iron swivel ramrods, which does suggest they may have been intended for sale to a military officer. The guns are of a moderate size where they would not need to be carried in pommel holsters, and could be carried on the person, but are also of substantial enough caliber to be considered real combat pistols. The sights are a simple fixed notch rear sight, set forward of the tang screw and a metal post front sight. The pistols feature platinum blow outs in their breeches and are expertly engraved with high-quality flowing feathery foliate motifs and Arabesque scrolls on the frames, tangs and triggerguards. The percussion hammers are engraved ensuite and hammer noses and spurs are engraved with classical sea serpent motifs that are quite striking with piercing eyes engraved on either side of the hammer noses. Both guns are serial numbered 953 on the faces of the grip straps, to the rear of the triggerguards.

The pistols are contained in their original mahogany veneered compartmentalized wood travel case with two lidded compartments and compartments for a variety of accessories. The case has a folding brass handle inset in the top of the lid, uses the traditional “bible” hinge construction and has a pair of pivoting clasps on the front face, as well as a lock with brass escutcheon. The interior is lined in old, dark green baize and the lidded compartments have brass pulls. The accessories in the case include a lovely SYKES/PATENT marked cylindrical copper powder flask with German silver top and spout, a diminutive ebony handled cone wrench and a rosewood loading rod with a removable brass tip with a bull puller concealed inside. Additional accessories include a single cavity round ball scissor mold marked 34 for 34-Bore which has a nominally .517” cavity. This would be about right for the pistol bores when patches are used for the round balls. A small group of 1 ½” diameter patches are present in the case, as well as jappaned tin of COCK’Spercussion caps, a grooved turned wood screw top container and a carved horn lidded container. The wood container  was likely for spare percussion cones, while the horn container likely was used to hold lubricant or grease for the patches.

The pistols remain in about VERY GOOD condition and are fairly crisp with clear markings and fine engraving. They appear to have been originally blued, and some minute traces of blue are still visible in some protected areas, most notably on the triggerguard of one of the pistols. The guns have a lightly oxidized and mottled gray patina with a dull pewter base color and scattered patches, freckles and areas of darker gray and brownish surface oxidation. Some areas of the frames and grip straps still have a dull bluish tone to the gray. The metal is almost entirely smooth with some lightly scattered freckles of surface roughness here and there.  The markings on the barrels and the engraved decorations remain clear and crisp with only some light wear. The locks of both pistols operate as they should and also remain quite crisp. The triggers retain some dulled and faded traces of their blued finish. Both guns retain their original swivel ramrods, which function smoothly, as they should. The bores of the guns are in about VERY GOOD condition as well. The smooth bores are partly bright with some scattered oxidation and some lightly scattered minor pitting. The wood grips retain mostly crisp and sharp checkering, with some light wear, some minor flattening to the checkering and some lightly scattered minor dings and handling marks.

The mahogany veneered travel casing shows moderate wear and several areas where the veneer has delaminated, cracked or chipped, and was subsequently repaired. Most of this is on the lid of the case. There is some minor chipped loss to the veneer where the repairs have been performed. The exterior of the case also shows scattered bumps, dings, nicks, scuffs, scratches and mars. The interior of the case shows less wear, and the lining remains in VERY GOODcondition with some areas of scattered wear and discoloration and a couple of small lining repairs with the most noticeable being inside the front lidded compartment where a small piece of fabric has been added to the bottom of the compartment. The lining shows some fading and staining as well. The dividers remain relatively solid and sturdy with no major structural issues. The “bible” hinges still function correctly, with the lid standing at approximately 90-degress when open. The brass clasps also function correctly. There is no key present for the lock. The accessories are all about VERY GOOD or better condition. In particular the powder flask is in about FINE condition. The other accessories all show light to moderate wear and are fine accompaniments to the handguns.

Overall, this is a really lovely Cased Pair of Engraved Percussion Over & Under Pistols by William Mills of London, in their original casing with a nice selection of accessories. These guns are from the second quarter of the 19^th century, circa 1830-1840 and were likely made for use by a British military officer or a wealthy person who needed to take their personal security and protection seriously. The guns are very well made and remain in very crisp condition with fine engraving throughout. They will be a lovely addition to any collection of mid-19^th century percussion pistols and would be appropriate to add to a collection that includes early English repeating firearms like those based on Collier’s or Gould’s patents.