Bruneau & Co. Will Hold Its First-ever Historic Arms & Militaria Auction Online

By Author: Joel Bohy
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Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers will hold its first-ever Historic Arms & Militaria auction on Saturday, May 1st, at 10 am Eastern time. The sale is well-rounded and will feature more than 400 lots of historic material from the American Revolution through to the modern day, with wonderful objects designed to appeal to beginning and higher-end collectors.

“Working with the Bruneau team over the past months to build this auction has been a lot of fun,” said Joel Bohy, director of Bruneau & Co.’s newly created Arms & Militaria department. “The catalog features the collection of Larry Cooley. Larry collected some of the finest U.S. martial arms from the late 18th to the mid-19th century and we’re thrilled to be offering them.”

Kevin Bruneau, the president of Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers, added, “It's an amazing assemblage of historical items, from pre-Revolutionary War right up through our world wars. I've never seen such collections like this, other than in museums. I’m looking forward not just to this auction but to watching the new department grow and seeing what Joel Bohy is going to ...
... come up with next.”

A circa 1829 Russian M. 1805 12-pound bronze field gun, has a pre-sale estimate of $30,000-$50,000 and is being sold to benefit the acquisition fund of the Massachusetts National Guard Museum, where it was displayed until just recently. The 69 ½ inch long field piece is marked “1829 / Bryansk” on the breech with the foundry name and has plain dolphins on the gun’s top.

A circa 1799-1802 U.S. North & Cheney second contract pistol, model 1799, .74 bore, with serial number 697 marked on the shoulder of the breech plug, on the bottom of the barrel at the breech and under the barrel on the brass frame, is expected to hit $20,000-$30,000. The pistol, 14 ¼ inches long, has a walnut stock, an iron back strap and brass frame, trigger guard and butt cap.

A circa 1837 U.S. Navy Elgin cutlass pistol, .54 bore with a walnut grip, should realize $15,000-$20,000. Only 150 cutlass pistols were made from a U.S. Navy contract, with the blades made by N. P. Ames. This example won the Gun Collector Committee’s Best of Show trophy at the NRA annual meeting in 2016, in an exhibition titled U.S. Military Pistols: Evolution to Perfection.

A pattern 1798 U.S. horseman’s pistol, .65 bore with a walnut stock, overall 16 ¾ inches long, is estimated to finish at $10,000-$15,000. Only 398 of these pistols were delivered in 1799 by Robert McCormick and John Miles. The one up for bid is attributed to Miles, as McCormick stamped his name on the stocks of the guns he delivered. Miles delivered 200 pistols in 1799.

A powder horn from 1759, identified to Moses Comstock, whose name appears in the Massachusetts French & Indian War rolls, has an estimate of $7,000-$9,000. The 19 ¼ inch long cow horn is carved with trees, bottles, glasses, deer, horses, birds, fish, a man on horseback and a ship. It’s marked with Comstock’s name, the year “1759” and the initials of the carver (“IS”).

A silver-hilted sword made between 1740 and 1750 by the Boston silversmith William Cowell, Jr., with a silver wire-covered wood grip, a triangular colichemarde-form blade with a leather washer at the base of the hilt and a leather-covered wood scabbard with a silver throat should go for $5,000-$7,000. Examples of Cowell’s work are in museums, galleries and institutions.

A British Royal Warrant of 1768 grenadier cap plate, made sometime between 1768 and 1802 from repousse silver-plated sheet copper over a die-struck tinned-iron plate, is expected to fetch $3,000-$5,000. The 11 ½ inch long cap plate has a black japanned background and is marked in a banner, ‘NEC ASPERA TERRENT’ with a lion, crown and foliate scrolls plus mounting holes.

A circa 1847 U.S. Remington Jenks Naval carbine with tape primer, one of about 1,000 such carbines built in 1847 and 1848, has an estimate of $2,000-$4,000. The .54 caliber weapon has a figured walnut stock with a crisp cartouche on the left side, a brass butt plate, trigger guard and barrel bands, a steel saddle ring on the lower trigger guard and a marked case-hardened lock.

Internet bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com, Bidsquare.com, bidLIVE.Bruneauandco.com and the mobile app “Bruneau & Co.” on iTunes or GooglePlay.

Previews of all individual items will be available by appointment only, the week of auction, with limited reserved seating available to serious bidders. To schedule an appointment, call 401-533-9980; or, send an email to info@bruneauandco.com. The gallery is located at 63 Fourth Avenue in Cranston. All COVID-19 protocols will be enforced. Masks and social distancing are required.

Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions, with commissions as low as zero percent. Now would be a perfect time to clean out your attic. To contact Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers about consigning a single piece or an entire collection, you may send an e-mail to info@bruneauandco.com. Or, you can phone them at 401-533-9980.

To learn more about Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers and the inaugural Historic Arms & Militaria auction planned for Saturday, May 1st, at 10 am Eastern time. visit www.bruneauandco.com.