Originally Posted by
ccdjg
Interestingly this pistol was also advertised on various occasions as "Morse's Patent Improved Pistol" at 15 dollars a dozen, probably sold under some sort of licence obtained from Haviland & Gunn. Quackenbush advertised darts and slugs specifically for the Morse pistol (for example in his 1877 catalogue), so I suspect that quite a few of these little pistols were made. I know of one American collector who has (or had) three examples. So who was Morse? All I could find out from my own research is that he was a businessman/ retailer from Little Falls, New York, and opened a new store in 1879. Can anyone add any more?
The pistol does not look much like the design described by Haviland & Gunn in their original patent, so perhaps Morse had a hand in improving it to the form that was eventually marketed.