In reading Diggory's book again here, the variety of hammer shapes over the years is astounding. Starting with the pinfire guns and evolving through the final iterations, many different shapes and styles were employed. It's funny what I'm drawn to, but the one's that mimic (or were converted from) the original shapes used during the pinfire-era look absolutely fabulous to me. Ultimately the "dolphin" types of hammers seems to be a high point of styling IMHO (a classic example of those would be the one's on Joe Wood's fully cocked Thomas Johnson above). I think the earlier pinfire hammers look more-like what an actual dolphin's head might to me (and is perhaps where the idiom comes from?), but the engraving style and patterns on the latter true "dolphin" hammers are usually a visual tour-de-force (the darn things even have eyes!). And, the pairing required to achieve any symmetry in the guns (right down to even the slightest engraving) can't have been easy. Imagine the man-hours involved in all that (hundreds I'd guess? skilled labor was obviously much-cheaper in those days). The combination of functional (the cross-hatching on the ears so they wouldn't slip while cocking) artfully blended with the characteristics of a large swimming mammal? How does one come up with that one? The hammers on Joe's early 1870s Greener (pictured above as well) are yet another engraving masterpiece, look how the folate scrolls evolve up the body from the base...just stunning. Pictures simply don't do that gun justice, only seeing it in person gives you the full-effect. Those self-retracting strikers are pretty wild looking too (another first for me).
Last edited by Lloyd3; 05/08/22 08:58 PM.
