The famous Rigby family business was titled William & John Rigby from circa 1818-1858 between the death of the founder and the death of his son William and of course remains one of the premier firearms makers in the world today. This very fine 100 bore (.36 caliber) pepperbox has a bright finished removable barrel block with slight taper and sprays of engraved scrollwork at the breech, foliage accents at the muzzles, and an engraved rosette on the muzzle screw. The arbor pin can be used as the ramrod for loading. The box lock action is blued and has border and scroll engraving on the sides and extending down the grip straps, "Wm & Jn Rigby" signed on the left, and "Dublin" on the right, nipple shields with blued sprung barrel release catches, an engraved bar hammer with faceted striker and sliding safety catch, and "RC" stamped on the face of the action at the breech. The trigger guard and trigger are also blued and the former has coordinating scrollwork and border engraving. The grips are nicely figured and finely checkered walnut. Curiously for a Rigby percussion firearm, no serial numbers were found. It comes in the original fitted mahogany case lined in dark blue baize with a shaped brass lid escutcheon inscribed in interlocking script with "TWJC," a William & John Rigby trade label for 24 Suffolk Street in Dublin inside the lid, and the following accessories: a fine Dixon & Sons three-way brass-mounted copper powder flask, a bright octagonal oil bottle, an iron 80-bore pincer bullet mold, brass-mounted wooden loading rod with worm, a nipple wrench, a turnscrew, and a black japanned cap tin.

Very fine. The 97% original deep blued finish remains. The engraving remains crisp and clear throughout. There are some spots of discoloration on the barrel block and nipple shields. The grips are very fine and each retain crisp fine checkering and have some scattered slight age-related storage blemishes. Mechanically excellent, including the distinctive Rigby barrel locking system. The case is also very fine and has deep blue color and minor age-related markings from the revolver, slight age stain on the label, and minor storage wear on the exterior. The accessories are very good, and the powder flask retains much of the original lacquer finish. This is a very fine example of the finest engineered pepperbox revolver of the percussion era.