Original French Ladies Small 7mm Pinfire Pocket Revolver with Leather Purse Holster circa 1860

Original item. Only One Available. This is a very nice French Pinfire Pocket revolver, in the relatively small 7mm pinfire cartridge. These were usually intended for personal protection, particularly for women, who required very small firearms to be able to conceal them with the styles of the day. The revolver features a fold away trigger to keep the profile small, and even has a lovely leather purse holster, with a typical clasp. This way it was both stylish, and hid the contents. The pistol was likely made in France or the Belgian Gunmaking city of Liège, where many operations were making guns under contract to French makers. There is the marking LAM on the right side of the frame, as well as CROWN / R and STAR / M proofs on several locations. The Pinfire system was the earliest form of "Cartridge" developed with a pin projecting out at 90 degrees to the cartridge case. When depressed by the falling hammer the cartridge discharged. At the time up against muzzle loading Revolvers thes