These "J. Deringer" pistols were manufactured by Slotter & Co. of Philadelphia in the 1860s. John Deringer, reportedly a butcher or tailor with no connection to the gun trade, was hired by Frederick and Henry Schlotterbeck, former employees of Henry Deringer, to help them legally manufacture pistols with the Deringer name on them. The numbers on the pistol have been suggested to be inventory numbers for A.J. Plate of San Francisco rather than serial numbers. Plate was known to have purchased pistols from Slotter & Co. due to the high demand for Henry Deringer's pocket pistols in California and was sued by Henry Deringer for copyright infringement. "16" is marked on the wedge, bottom of the barrel and breech plug, trigger guard tang, and toe of the stock. The barrel has attractive false Damascus patterns, six-groove rifling, a brass blade front sight, "WART/STEEL" on the right, scroll engraving and "J. DERINGER/PHILADELA" on the breech plug, and a notch rear sight on the tang. The lock also has "J. DERINGER/PHILADELA" and scroll engraving. The furniture is German silver, and only the trigger guard is engraved. The stock has multi-point checkering.

Excellent with essentially all of the original blue and casehardened finish remaining, bright German silver furniture with some slight verdigris, and minimal age and handling related wear overall. The stock is also excellent aside from the small split in the forend tip on the left and has crisp checkering and some small dings and scratches. Mechanically excellent. This is definitely one of the finer "J. Deringer" pocket pistols we have seen.