Scouts who are learning to help others.”
The information we share here will not be a detailed report of the company’s early years, but more a synopsis of discoveries about the variations of Brownies that have surfaced over the ensuing years. Both collectors and dealers want to know more how they can recognize an unusual, rare, scarce, or oddball Brownie from the more commonly found specimens, than to study the company history. I feel sure there are more discoveries to come of heretofore unrecognized variations of the Brownie.
Early writers have described Oscar’s involvement with the design and production of other small, easily concealed handguns sold by the the C.S. Shattuck Co., stating he was first awarded a patent in 1906 for a four-barrel pistol which came to be known as the Shattuck “Unique” or “Invisible Defender.” We know the name “Novelty” has also been used in connection with those early pistols. Those early researchers have also detailed how he toiled alone in his one-man shop in a loft at Hatfield, Massachusetts, to produce those guns for his employers. Mossberg subsequently worked for the Stevens Arms Company and Marlin-Rockell in a variety of production management positions.
In 1919, at the tender age of 75, Oscar – under the auspices of his newly-formed company, O.F. Mossberg & Sons – started producing his new Brownie pistol, almost a full year before receiving the patent for it. Oscar filed an application for his Brownie with the U.S. Patent Office on Aug. 28, 1919. His patent (number 1,348,035) was awarded July 27, 1920. It’s interesting to note that unlike most such patent applications of that era, the guns he produced actually matched the drawings he had submitted! It is recorded that Oscar moved his gun production facilities to New Haven, Connecticut and still later moved again into larger facilities in New Haven and hired a few mechanically knowledgeable helpers from among his Swedish friends.
“Unique” palm pistol made by Mossberg for C. S. Shattuck. Note misspelling of “Shattuck” on roll marking.
NUMBER OF BROWNIES PRODUCED
Since there are no known surviving factory records to verify the actual number of units produced in Oscar’s 13 years of fabricating Brownies, guesstimated figures for a total number range from 32,000 to 37,000. Since I’ve been keeping a database on observed and reported serial numbers on these guns, the highest serial number I would consider reliable is 33,404, found on a gun in Florida. And although I was told of a serial numbered gun lower than any other reported, I never saw it except in a couple of photos, and the person who reported it did not answer my request for additional photographic proof. Therefore, the lowest number I can personally attest to is in my collection and is number 212.
This leads to some interesting speculation. Oscar Mossberg began production of the Brownie in 1919, before receiving the patent he had applied for in August of that year and which was not granted until nearly a year later, on July 27, 1920. Now, do the math. For Oscar to have produced my estimated 33,404 units from 1919 to 1932, as reported, the output of his shop facilities would have to have averaged 2,569 units annually. That averages out at 214 units per week, or 31 units per day. Therefore my Brownie numbered 212 could conceivably have been produced the first or second week of production and was handled by Oscar himself!
However, when one considers the amount of time Oscar probably spent on preparation and experimentation with various production methods, it’s doubtful #212 left his shop until sometime in perhaps the first month. Previous reports are not clear on how many helpers, if any, Oscar hired at the very beginning. Though the name of the company includes “& Sons,” his boys were aged 21 and 23 at the time, so is very probably that he hired some more experienced help for his assembly process.
TOUGH TIMES DEMANDED TOUGH SALES TACTICS
Early Brownie ads were primarily aimed at the outdoorsman type of prospective buyer such as hunters, trappers, fishermen and such. As that dark decade of the 1920s inexorably moved toward the Great Crash of 1929 and resulting mass unemployment, many men were resorting to such outdoor vocations in order to feed their families. The initial price of the Brownie was $5. Six years later, probably due to Oscar’s improved production methods, Taylor Fur of New York was offering the Brownie for just $3.45 in their 1926 advertisements!
The Brownie ads state they would be shipped “postpaid” anywhere in the U.S.. The Brownie was delivered in a small, very plain, boxed unmarked in any manner. The boxes in my collection measure 4.75" X 3.5" X 1" deep, just big enough to accommodate the Brownie, wrapped in brown oiled paper, and accompanied by factory papers. Other writers have reported that these fragile boxes were produced in blue, red or black solid colors with no particular color being more common than any other. The specimens I have are solid black, and the only other two I’ve been told of were also black. The boxes, being composed of paper, have a much lesser degree of survivabilty than the guns they contained and are therefore more rare to find than the guns themselves. The current price of these guns in Very Good to Excellent condition, with their original box and papers, is quite high. One such specimen advertised nationally in a gun publication in 2007 for $799 was already sold when I inquired about it.
It’s interesting to note that the boxes I’ve handled were of simple cardboard construction, but were then covered with the colored paper that has a somewhat “pebbled” texture to it. It had to have been more expensive to use a plain box with that extra step of production necessary to glue that colored and textured paper over every surface of the box, except most of the interior! I’ve not yet resolved that puzzling feature.
Brownie in original factory box.
VARIATION #1
The information stamped into the right side of the barrel cluster on these earliest guns is shown in the photo at left. In italicized type it reads: PAT. APPL’D.FOR. There are no spaces between the abbreviated words.
The location of the serial numbers on this variation may be found in five different locations: 1) under the right grip, on the edge of the gripstrap, down at bottom; 2) with gun open, on right side of the barrel cluster, down near the hinge; 3) with gun open, look up under the little “ears” on the front of the barrel latch lever which lies along the top of the gun; 4) & 5) on back of both metal side plates on receiver section of the gun. Some of the earlier guns also had the serial number written in pencil on the back of the wooden grips. We estimate this model was produced from 1919 until mid-1923 and that there were probably between 10,000 and 11,000 produced.
Location of serial numbers on Variation #1.
NOTE 1: So far there have been only 50 of the Variation #1 reported to our database. This is 32.25% of the total production, not quite one third.
NOTE 2: Due to the length of some serial numbers and the limited space available on some parts, only the last three or four digits of the whole number may be found. These are typically found in locations 2) and 3) shown in the photo, and on back of grips.
NOTE 3: The muzzle of the barrels has not been chamfered (beveled) as on later guns. The face of the muzzle is completely flat.
NOTE 4: Unlike some later Brownies, there is no pin at top center of the metal plate on the right side. Below are photos of the two types of sideplate. Earlier Variations #1 and #2 had no pin.
Location of the pin that identifies later variations.
