Help Identify?

[arrowj]

Greetings,

My Father recently came into possession of the revolver his Grandmother had used as a home defense weapon (unloaded naturally) when he was a boy.

The gun is has a nickle finish of which a solid 50% - 60% is gone. There is no loading gate; only a cut out for loading. There appears to be a small latch on the bottom in front of the cylinder that I am guessing would release the cylinder pin and allow it to be removed. The grips are hard black plastic. The following words are on the gun (along with what I suppose is a serial number):

Foreland Arms Company Worcester, Mass
Patd June 2, 1891

I did not get a good look at the gun and therefore I do not know if it is SA or DA. I do not know how many rounds it holds or what caliber, but it appears to large for .22 and to small for .38

Can anyone help me identify this weapon?

Thanks in advance!

[Xracer]

Your revolver was a made by the Forehand Arms Company (formerly Forehand & Wadsworth).....and could be one of a number of fairly inexpensive revolvers they made.

Caliber is probably .32 S&W, and was probably made the 1890 to 1902 timeframe.

From your description, it may be the Forehand Perfection Automatic double action revolver, which was made from 1898 to 1902.

If you can post a picture, we might be able to nail down what it is.

[arrowj]

Thank you for that great information! I have several pictures here, but they are rather large so I will put them on my server and just list the links here. Any idea of the value for this gun?

http://www.thesitterdowners.com/images/gun/gun.jpg
http://www.thesitterdowners.com/images/gun/gun (1).jpg
http://www.thesitterdowners.com/images/gun/gun (2).jpg
http://www.thesitterdowners.com/images/gun/gun (3).jpg
http://www.thesitterdowners.com/images/gun/gun (4).jpg

Thanks again.

[b.goforth]

arrowj,
in the forehand catalogs of the era this model was simply called the 'forehand double action'. as it is marked with the 1891 patent date it was manufactured after that date but before 1900. the forehand arms co. was purchased in 1900 by Hopkins & Allen. most of thier handguns were discontinued then. as H&A had a solid frame double action model so the forehand double action was one of the ones discontinued. all forehand arms co. handguns were manufactured for black powder cartridge pressures and are not considered safe with modern ammo.

there is some collectors interest in these revolvers but not much and valued vary greatly depending on condition. these revolvers often show up on the auction sites. if this revolvers is mechanically sound it would probably bring about $100 retail at a gun show (physical condition hurts its value). the better they look the more they bring.
bill

[arrowj]

This was extremely helpful. I greatly appreciate your effert in helping me with! Of course my father thinks anything over 70 years old ought to be worth thousands of dollars, but I told him it wouldn't be worth anything. There is a really great little bit of family history behind the piece and I'm glad he won't be selling it...because it will be mine some day

Thanks again!

[ryan_marine]

Looks alot like a H&R model 4 or an Iver Johnson model 1900 Target. Value is around what b.goforth said. My 2 cents on the subject.

Ray