Developed in the mid 1910s by Grant Hammond of the Grand Hammond Manufacturing Company, the Hammond Pistol (aka the Liberty Pistol, due to the use of plant space owned by Liberty Motors in manufacturing) was one of the post-1910 rivals to Colt's Government Model/1911 pistol. Brought to the attention of the Small Arms Division of U.S. Army Ordnance in 1917, the Hammond was subjected to multiple rounds of informal and formal evaluation, both by individual officers, small groups, and finally formal trials by both the Army and Navy. For the men who tested it, the Grant Hammond was something of a heartbreaker; it was often described in glowing terms by those who shot it, but had issues that were never fully corrected even after multiple rounds of feedback to the manufacturer. Almost universally the testers loved the handling and the accuracy of the pistol, though chronic issues were experienced with the magazine, and the novel bolt mechanism, which could be pulled out quite easily for basic cleaning, was much harder to deal with in a detail strip scenario, and would be more complicated than the Colt's slide to maintain. The design had great potential, but was unable to make the evolution from an exciting prototype to a field-ready pistol, and as a result was not able to knock the 1911 off its perch. This particular pistol appears to be the later version used for the Navy/Camp Perry trials in 1918, which included revisions like a more conventional magazine catch arrangement and the rear sight being shifted back for a longer sight radius. Mechanically, the evaluators made comparisons to the Mauser Broomhandle, as the pistol has a fixed bolt and receiver assembly with a bolt within, which cycles back on the frame briefly before the bolt disconnects and completes the ejection and loading cycle. Blade front and fixed notch rear sights, with "PATENTED MAY 4, 1915 OTHER PATENTS PENDING" on the left side of the receiver, knurled hammer, bright bolt, smooth trigger and smooth grips. The magazine is a later replacement, possibly from a Star pistol, which is a tight fit for the magazine well.

Very fine with 95% of the refinished high polish blue finish, showing some mild edge wear and a few covered dings and pits. The patent markings are a bit worn, but generally legible. The grips show some mild dings and dents, with the left panel a bit undersized for the frame and the right panel flexing a bit at the top. The current replacement magazine does not allow testing of the hold-open mechanism, but otherwise the pistol is mechanically in good order. An extremely rare competitor to the 1911, absent from nearly all U.S. military collections and not often seen in the wild.