Hello,
I am a French collector of American C&B handguns (1836-1890) and a Black Powder shooter. I am not a cartridge collector strictly speaking, but I am deeply interested in some of them and in their boxes. I did some digging about ammunitions and I began with combustible cartridges used during the Civil War, especially those produced by Colt’s Cartridge Works. I recreated very accurate copies of these combustible cartridges (and their wooden boxes) which I used to shot at the range. Afterward, as I bought several Colt conversions and three Smith & Wesson revolvers, I was interested in metallic cartridges and I began to learn reloading of ancient calibers: .44 Colt, .44 S&W American et Russian, .38 Long Colt, .38 S&W, etc.
In order to accompany revolvers in my display cabinet, I wanted to buy some vintage cartridge boxes. I very soon realized that authentic ones which interested me were not only very scarce, but also highly expensive. Then, I tried to search good copies, but once again, I did not find what I was searching (even in the United States…), both in terms of available patterns and historical accuracy.
Therefore, I simply decided to make them by myself. I chose to reproduce the scarcest patterns of the period, mainly the early boxes made by one of the most important american cartridge manufacturers: Union Metallic Cartridge Company.
Concerning Smith & Wesson, I found, in a James D. Julia catalog, good photos of a scarce early cartridge box for the Russian Model, made by U.M.C. and I was able to make a copy of it:
But for the Smith & Wesson American Model cartridge box, I found a single black and white photo of the box in the book of Charles W. Pate, _Smith & Wesson American Mode_l:
So, I am desperately searching for a good color photo of this very rare box: somebody, in this forum, would have one?
Thanks in advance…
