Only a few of these revolvers, perhaps as many as fifty, were made and less than six are known to still be in existence (see, for example, Seller and Smith's AMERICAN PERCUSSION REVOLVERS, page 19). Based in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Brettel & Frisbie manufactured this revolver based on their patent 16,575 that was issued on 10 February 1857. The patent covered an improvement to the Ells revolver, consisting of the addition of a "hesitation lock"- a mechanism in which the first pull of the trigger cocks the hammer and a further pull releases it. The revolver could also be fired by pulling the trigger straight through, ignoring the "hesitation". Marked "BRETTELL. & FRISBIE. / PATENTED FEB. 10. 1857." on left side of the hammer, "BRETTELL. / & / W. B. POTTS / COL. O" on right side and "EUREKA" on top. W.B Potts refers to William Potts of Columbus, Ohio, who was the son of a hardware dealer and was listed in the 1861-1862 City Directories as operating a brass foundry. Five shot cylinder, with iron frame and smooth grips. "53" is marked on the back of both grips, the bottom barrel flat and cylinder pin.

Very good plus The revolver has a smooth brown patina with limited traces of original blue finish on the bottom barrel flat under the cylinder pin. There is some scattered light spotting. The grips are very fine with most of the original varnish, some minor dings and scratches. Mechanically fine. Writer cannot recall ever seeing another example.