Origin of the duel

As early as 712 AD, so-called legal duels were fought between the warring parties in Germany to determine who was right and who was wrong.If there was a disagreement with a neighbor about where the property line was, they did not go to court and call the local surveyor, but took a weapon of their choice and delivered it to the town square at noon (so that none of them would fight in front of the sun).The last standing one won the argument.

Such battles for honor or justice have been sanctioned on a large scale for hundreds of years, resulting in strict rules of good conduct. For example, ordinary people fought with agricultural tools such as batons and axes, and gentlemen fought with swords.

Even women could fight a man, although on special terms, men were forced to fight with a hand tied behind his back, or stand up to his waist in a pit, at which time a woman was allowed to be around him.By the 1500s, this type of competition had been replaced by jury trials, but trials in a battle between two gentlemen over an issue of honor, which would soon be known as a duel, remained an integral part of medieval justice.

Duel Code

By the Renaissance, a very complex code had emerged in Italy concerning the formalities of the duel. If one gentleman insulted another, even in the most mundane manners, the offended gentleman could demand a public apology. Until now, some believe that the concept of "I apologize" when committing an unpleasant act follows from this practice. If an apology was not accepted, a duel was offered to satisfy the honor of the offended. Each man chose an assistant or a second, who agreed on the shape of the weapon, the time of the event and where the battle would take place. By the 1600s, the weapons increasingly chosen for these tests of masculinity were pistols, mainly because it meant that even the slowest, oldest, or decrepit gentleman could hold a fair duel.

Duel pistol

By the time dueling had become a more fashionable hobby among the nobility than a means of settling general legal disputes, wheellocked pistols were a favorite weapon of the time. These pistols were a very sophisticated and rare weapon. In some countries, they were even illegal.

The advent of a simple and much cheaper flintlock pistol in the 1700s meant that pistols were readily available (and not just for gentlemen), marking the end of the days of rapier in duels.The problem was that if every man brought his own gun to a duel, one could unexpectedly surpass his opponent's gun.

The answer was specially made braces (pairs) of pistols, in which each was a mirror image of the other in every way. To make sure everything was fair, the guns were allowed to be inspected, and each was loaded and checked by the other's second for functionality. Although these guns, of course, could be used for other purposes, such as self-defense against robbers. These pistols usually had a decoration of Damascus steel with deep curls on metal and wooden surfaces, with a heavy silver stamp and inserts. Often in their creation were used such exotic species of wood as teak and ebony.

Famous fights

Duels were surprisingly popular in the United States from birth until the 1860s.It is estimated that before taking office, Andrew Jackson was involved in more than a hundred fights, almost all with pistols, and lived to tell his story.One of John Atkinson's books, British Dueling Pistols, states that only about 6% of pistol duels were fatal.

National anthem composer Francis Scott Key, Navy hero Stephen Decatur and first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton were killed by pistol shots fired in duels. Hamilton, who had participated in 11 previous honor trials, first shot in the air and then-Vice President Aaron Barr returned fire and mortally wounded him, now with Hamilton's face on the $10 bill. The famous Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, who survived 29 previous fights before he was killed in his 30s, is another example of how the rules of the "shot" were not always followed.

By the 1860s, the duel had largely been regulated, but that didn't stop it from becoming a sport at the 1906 and 1912 Olympics— shooters fired at mannequins dressed in coats. In most cases, the "noon" shootouts in the Wild West were more hollywood than real events.

Collecting

Dueling pistols often remain as stunningly beautiful and elegant as they were when they were manufactured.These family heirlooms have been passed down from family member to family member for generations.Well-documented stories only increase their appeal to collectors.

They have rarely been used and well preserved for centuries – meaning that in most cases collectible dueling pistols had to stand the test of time and be surprisingly well preserved compared to other pistols of their age.England has been at the center of fine dueling pistol assemblies for nearly a century.Such pistols, made by famous gunsmiths Robert Vogdon, Durs Egg, Henry Knock, Mantons and others, today cost exceptionally high prices in the range of 3,000 to 50,000 dollars.Other lesser-known, but sometimes even more sought-after, guns are from Germany, Belgium, and France.American-made pistols, such as the Trion pistols of Philadelphia and the FL Gelbke & Brothers store based in Mobile Alabama, are the holy grail of this genre.