E.M Reilly & Company

[javier1979]

I have an old E.M Reilly & Company pistol that I don't know what its worth and thinking of selling. Does anyone have any information on it or what it's worth? or interested?

[God Bless America]

Pinfire, from the looks of it.

[pitfighter]

I absolutely love it ! -

Fantastic condition and really a very, very fine example of n obscure firearm with what appears to be (from the photos) the correct box/case - I would store the change elsewhere, or in a small zip-lock if you have to have it in that box, to stop it from discoloring the felt.

I would keep it, if it were mine, it's an elegant English competitor to the Colt. I'd make it a quest to find the rest of the accessories, but I'm OCD about such things.

Feel free to Dm me, if you want to sell.


From another source:
Who were the Reilly’s, the father Joseph Charles (J.C.) jeweler (actually silver smith) turned gun-maker and has son Edward Michael. There is a lot of speculation that the father JC and son EM were marketers rather than gun makers. I’ll disagree. Surely they were engravers (there are swords and bayonets with the Reilly name on them)(you can't be a silversmith without knowing English engraving). Yet there is a consistency to the stocks, barrels, workmanship. engraving, etc. that makes a sporting Reilly to me almost instantly recognizable. They appear to only put Serial Numbers on guns they built or which were ordered at their shops; they put their name on other guns they were marketing but not numbers.

The Reilly name was very well known in the 1800’s and their guns were regarded as not only well made, affordable, and beautiful but innovative. They attempted at least three times to win a British Army gun contract using other makers’ patents; 1853 when the Enfield was adopted, 1865 when the Snider was adopted, 1870 when the Martini Henry was adopted. (These trial dates are date markers for numbered Reilly guns per a post to follow below)…and to do so he had to have had “connections.” Their guns were modern (though one could buy a muzzle loader in 1880 or a hammer gun in 1905); and they sold every type of gun in their shops new and used; they were one of the first London shops to sell Breech loaders.

Reilly was not anonymous. They made guns for European kings including the King of Spain, King of Portugal, King of the Netherlands and Indian Rajahs. And, they were highly regarded in the gun world. They were the sole agents for American Sharps rifles (1880), for Comblain breech loaders (1867), etc. They sold used guns. They sold Tanter revolvers and other hand guns and he put his name on all sorts of guns which passed through the shops including at least one winchester, a Navy Colt, etc.

[Grendl]

Cool history, sweet piece.