Comments
Figures ▾
Tables ▾

LeMat Revolver · Volume 7

Buying One — Originals at Auction and Reproductions Today

Dated auction results and estimates with their sources, what moves an original's price, the replaced parts every catalogue lists, Pietta's four current models and what they cost in October 2026, and the accessories that verifiably exist

Figure 1 — A LeMat on loan to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, from The Old Guard of the Gate City Guard of Atlanta. The spurred trigger guard is a First Model fea…
Figure 1 — A LeMat on loan to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia, from The Old Guard of the Gate City Guard of Atlanta. The spurred trigger guard is a First Model feature; no loading lever is fitted, as is common on originals. Photograph by JJonahJackalope, CC BY-SA 4.0.

There are two LeMat markets, and they barely touch. Originals are Confederate-associated antiques that sell at the major American firearms auction houses for five-figure and occasionally six-figure sums. Reproductions are new Italian percussion revolvers from one maker, sold through a handful of importers for a little over a thousand dollars. This volume gives prices for both, each with its date and source, and the checks a buyer should make.

7.1 The two markets

Table 1 — The two markets

OriginalPietta reproduction
Where soldMajor auction houses; specialist Civil War dealersPietta’s US company; importers and muzzleloading retailers
Typical priceAbout $16,000–17,000 for an ordinary Second Model at Rock Island (2017–2024 averages); far more for provenance or rarity$1,249–1,460.90 new (October 2026)
Shoot it?NoYes, within the maker’s instructions
Federal statusAntique, not a “firearm” (Volume 9)Antique replica, not a “firearm” (Volume 9)
Main riskReplaced parts, refinish, overstated provenanceAvailability; build quality variation

7.2 Originals: dated results and estimates

Realised prices (hammer price plus buyer’s premium, as the auction house reports them):

Table 2 — Realised prices (hammer price plus buyer's premium, as the auction house reports them)

DateGunPriceSource
September 2019Engraved Pietta LeMat prototype (a reproduction)$3,738Rock Island1
December 2021General Braxton Bragg’s LeMat$103,500Rock Island1
May 2023Early-serial First Model, “very good,” ex-Greg Lampe collection$52,875Rock Island1
May 2026”Experimental prototype serial number 4 Krider LeMat revolver”$105,750Rock Island1

Pre-sale estimates (estimates are not results; they show how a cataloguer valued the gun):

Table 3 — Pre-sale estimates (estimates are not results; they show how a cataloguer valued the gun)

GunEstimateSource
Krider prototype serial 2, ex-Adams and Young collections$60,000–80,000James D. Julia2
Baby LeMat serial 31 (earlier sale)$75,000–125,000James D. Julia3
Baby LeMat serial 31 (later sale)$60,000–80,000James D. Julia4
Baby LeMat serial 5, lowest known$40,000–60,000James D. Julia5
Baby LeMat centerfire cartridge revolver (December 2016)$18,000–25,000Rock Island6
London LeMat serial 8074, “fine”$19,000–23,000James D. Julia7
Second Model serial 1475, much original finish$15,000–25,000James D. Julia8
London LeMat serial 8948, “fine,” no finish$10,000–15,000James D. Julia9
Pinfire and percussion carbines serials 206 and 49$12,500–22,500 eachJames D. Julia1011
Early pinfire carbine serial 3157$8,000–15,000James D. Julia12
First Model serial 28, “very good,” replacement lever$7,500–12,500James D. Julia13
Pinfire and percussion revolver serial 3023$7,000–12,000James D. Julia14
Second Model serial 1576, “fair to good,” replaced parts$6,000–10,000James D. Julia15

Search-engine summaries attribute realised prices of $66,125, $60,375 and $103,500 to three of the Baby LeMat sales. Those figures were not visible on the catalogue pages read for this work and are not used.

The Julia estimates are undated on the pages read, and the sale dates were not recovered for this work. They are useful for relative value between types and conditions, not for today’s price level.

Figure 2 — Recorded LeMat prices and estimates drawn on one scale, each bar labelled with its date and source: realised prices in solid bars, estimates as ranges. Drawn for this dive.
Figure 2 — Recorded LeMat prices and estimates drawn on one scale, each bar labelled with its date and source: realised prices in solid bars, estimates as ranges. Drawn for this dive.

7.3 The trend Rock Island measured

Rock Island’s article includes its own analysis of ordinary Second Model prices at its Premier auctions since 2016. It counted only guns in “fine” to “very good” condition and excluded “transitional models, presentation pieces, and other extremely scarce and atypical Second Model LeMat revolvers,” and it included the buyer’s premium — “15% through June of 2022 and 17.5% thereafter.”1 Its findings:

  • average prices “leaping to $16,092 in 2017 and 2018”;
  • “climbing $756 dollars in 2021 and 2022” (that is, to about $16,848);
  • “an average price of $17,221” in 2023 and 2024.1

It cautions that “this dataset includes far fewer examples than other recent pieces RIAC has published,” and that values “vary considerably based on factors such as finish, grips, engravings, provenance, condition, and supporting documentation.”1 It is one auction house’s sample, and it is the only published time series found.

7.4 What moves an original’s price

The catalogues make the drivers plain:

  1. Provenance. Bragg’s gun at $103,500 against a typical Second Model at about $17,000 is the measure of it.1 Guns with documented Confederate association — Adams’s list of serials in Volume 2 — are the top of the market. Family-descent provenance (the Gartrell First Model) and documented find-spots (a Virginia farmhouse attic, with an affidavit) are marketed heavily.1
  2. Rarity of type. Prototypes, Baby LeMats and carbines command more than standard guns regardless of condition.2310
  3. Originality. “It is very common to find these revolvers with major replacement parts, most often the loading lever,” College Hill writes; a gun with its original lever, rammer and hammer nose is the exception and is priced as one.16
  4. Condition and finish. “LeMat revolvers rarely retain any original finish” (Rock Island, of an extremely fine Birmingham-proofed Second Model).17 Original finish multiplies value; refinish destroys it.
  5. Untouched surfaces. College Hill’s description of serial 1784 praises a gun that “has escaped cleaning and has a wonderful, untouched look.”16 Patina is part of the object.
  6. Matching numbers. Serial and assembly numbers on barrel, cylinder, frame, pin, lever, rammer, trigger and grips; a mismatched part is noted in every serious description.1615

7.5 Replaced parts, refinishes and reproductions dressed as originals

Replaced parts. The parts College Hill and the auction catalogues most often record as replaced — the loading-lever catch spring, the lever itself, the shot rammer, the barrel pin and its spring, the hammer nose, the front sight’s barley corn, nipples — are listed in Volume 6.16 A buyer should assume some are replaced and ask which. Dealer Red Jackson’s claim that “over 90% of the LeMats when found will be without a loading lever,” and his sale of guns with replacement levers “so good that you might have to be told that they were not original,” show why: good replacement levers have been made for decades.18

Refinishes. Rock Island describes a Paris-marked First Model as “period refinished with 60% dull blue.”19 A period refinish is not a fake, but it is not original finish, and the description says so.

English-completed guns. Rock Island describes a Second Model with Birmingham proofs and no maker’s address that it believes was “completed by an English gunmaker utilizing LeMat components left over from Confederate pistol contracts.”17 Such guns are genuine but are not Confederate contract guns.

Reproductions aged to look original. Garbers notes that reenactors make reproductions “appear well-used — known as de-farbing.”20 A de-farbed Pietta is a reproduction with a period look; offered without disclosure as an original, it is a fake. The tells are conclusive and easy to check:

  • Calibre: a Pietta is .44 with a 20-gauge centre barrel; an original is nominally .42 and 18-bore (Volume 3). A .454 ball that fits the chambers, or a 20-gauge gauge in the centre barrel, ends the question.21
  • Proof marks: Pietta guns carry Italian proof marks and a modern serial number.
  • Mixed features that match a Pietta pattern (§7.8) rather than any original model.

Fake provenance is a separate risk. Garbers’s own comment on his serial 451 is the right attitude: “Unless a forgotten log or journal is found referencing the serial number, I doubt we will ever know” who owned it.20 A claimed association with a named officer should rest on a document that names the serial number.

7.6 A buyer’s checklist for an original

  1. Read the barrel address, serial and proofs together and check them against Volume 3’s table. A First Model address on a Second Model frame, or a serial in the wrong range, needs explaining.
  2. List every replaced part with the seller. Ask specifically about the lever, its catch spring, the rammer, the barrel pin and spring, the hammer nose, nipples, front sight and grips.
  3. Check the numbers on all the parts that should carry them, and the assembly number inside the frame and grips.
  4. Ask about finish: original, period refinish, or modern. Look at screw slots and edges for buffing.
  5. Measure the bores if allowed: about .42 in and .63 in.
  6. Ask for the provenance documents, not the story.
  7. Function: does it time, index and lock up at all nine positions; does the hammer hold at half-cock; is the hammer nose firm? Several catalogued guns fail one of these.13915
  8. Get the auction house’s condition report in writing; the descriptions quoted in this dive are models of what a good one contains.

7.7 Buying an original: the paperwork

A LeMat made in or before 1898 is an “antique firearm” under federal law and is not a “firearm” for the purposes of the Gun Control Act, so its transfer does not require a licensed dealer under federal law. In Michigan, an antique is exempt from the state’s pistol licence and sales-record requirement. Both points, with the statutes quoted and their limits — Michigan still treats an antique as a “firearm” and a “pistol” for carrying and most other offences — are in Volume 9. Auction houses ship antiques under their own policies, which vary by state; check them before bidding.

7.8 Reproductions: Pietta’s current line

F.lli Pietta of Gussago, Italy, is the only maker of a firing LeMat found. Its 2025 catalogue (published as a 2026 file) lists:21

Table 4 — Reproductions: Pietta's current line

No.CodeModelCalibreTwistBarrelOverallWeight
63LMC44LeMat Cavalry .44.44 (centre barrel .20 ga)1:30 in6¾ in octagonal13⅖ in1.6 kg
64LMN44LeMat Navy .44as above1:30 in6¾ in octagonal13⅖ in1.6 kg
65LMAOW44LeMat Army Old West .44as above1:30 in6¾ in octagonal13⅖ in1.6 kg
66LCE44LeMat Cavalry Super Deluxe .44as above1:30 in6¾ in octagonal13⅖ in1.6 kg
67LMC44COMLeMat Cavalry .44 Commemorative, hand engraved, checkered gripas above————

All have steel frames and walnut grips. Pietta’s description of the patterns: “CAVALRY, with spur triggerguard, lever type barrel release, cross pin barrel selector and a lanyard ring, NAVY with knurled pin barrel release and spur barrel selector, ARMY similar to the Navy Model with cross pin barrel selector.”21 The catalogue text also mentions “SHERIFF’S and CARBINE versions,” which do not appear in its tables and should not be assumed available.21

Pietta’s US company lists an additional “LeMat Army Steel” separately from the “Army Old West.”22 The difference is not described on the product pages read; the “Old West” name and the higher price suggest a finish variant, but this was not confirmed.

Which to choose. The model names do not correspond to original models (Volume 3). The practical differences are the trigger guard (spurred on the Cavalry, round on the others), the barrel latch (lever on the Cavalry, pin on the others) and the selector (Pietta’s “cross pin” against “spur”). A buyer who wants the look of a First Model chooses the Cavalry; one who wants a Second Model’s lines chooses the Navy or Army. Mechanically, all use the reciprocating-pin cylinder lock.23

7.9 Prices for a new Pietta, October 2026

All read on 18 October 2026, on the seller’s own page:

Table 5 — All read on 18 October 2026, on the seller's own page

SellerModelPriceNotes
Pietta Firearms USALeMat Cavalry (SKU PFLMST44712)$1,300.00”Pre-Order”22
Pietta Firearms USALeMat Navy (PFLMSTN44634)$1,300.00Pre-order22
Pietta Firearms USALeMat Army Steel (PFLMSTA44634)$1,300.00Pre-order22
Pietta Firearms USALeMat Army Old West (PFLMSTAOW44634)$1,350.00Pre-order22
EMF CompanyLeMat Cavalry .44 6¾″$1,360.9024
EMF CompanyLeMat Navy .44 6¾″$1,292.86 (list $1,360.90)“Limited quantity in stock”24
EMF CompanyLeMat Army Steel .44 6¾″$1,292.86 (list $1,360.90)Limited quantity24
EMF CompanyLeMat Army “Old West” .44 6¾″$1,460.90Temporarily out of stock24
Muzzle-Loaders.comPietta LeMat Cavalry LMC44$1,249.00 (was $1,649.99)25

Shooting Illustrated’s announcement of Pietta’s return to the LeMat gave “retail pricing … starts at $1,360.90,” directing readers to EMF, and said Pietta was “currently offering three versions: an Army, a Navy and a Cavalry model.”26

Two prices that appeared in search results are deliberately not listed: $899 and $999.99 from web stores whose pricing and presentation follow the pattern of fraudulent “gun shops”; neither is cited. A Dixie Gun Works price of $1,650 appeared in a search summary, but the product page could not be read and the figure is not used.

Availability. Every Pietta USA LeMat was marked “Pre-Order” in October 2026, and EMF had limited stock.2224 Garbers wrote in 2021 that pandemic shutdowns in Italy had stopped replica production and that the LeMat, “labor-intensive” and needing “significant tooling changes,” would not be available “until other orders are caught up.”20 Supply has evidently been intermittent; expect to wait or to pay a dealer’s premium.

Shipping. Black-powder reproductions are not “firearms” federally and are commonly shipped direct. Sellers set their own state restrictions, and a search summary reported that EMF ships black-powder guns only to a licensed dealer for residents of several states including New York, New Jersey and Illinois; that was not confirmed on EMF’s page. Michigan’s position is in Volume 9.

7.10 Used and older reproductions

  • Navy Arms-era Pietta guns. Navy Arms, under Val Forgett, imported Pietta LeMats before Dixie and EMF; by 2014 it “no longer imports or sells LeMats” (Bodinson).23 These appear on the used market.
  • Collector reproductions. An engraved Pietta LeMat prototype sold at Rock Island for $3,738 in September 2019.1
  • Condition checks on a used Pietta: the loading lever (bent, or rammer missing); the cylinder stop’s function at all nine positions; nipple condition; pitting in chambers and both bores from poor cleaning; and the barrel’s fit to its latch.

7.11 Non-firing replicas

Denix of Spain makes a non-firing LeMat replica in cast metal, reproducing First Model features (Volume 3 shows one). Non-firing replicas are not firearms. They are useful for holster fitting, for display where a working gun is not wanted, and for handling. No price is given because none was read on a seller’s page.

7.12 Accessories: what exists and what does not

  • Spare cylinder. Pietta’s US company sells a LeMat .44 spare cylinder, engraved, SKU PAFLEMAT12, at $135.00; EMF lists it at $135.00, out of stock (October 2026).2224
  • Spare parts. Pietta’s online parts shop (spareparts.pietta.it); state model and calibre when ordering (Volume 6).27
  • Conversion cylinders. No cartridge-conversion cylinder for the Pietta LeMat was found from any maker. None is named here. Volume 9 explains why fitting one would change the gun’s legal status in any case.
  • Holsters. No current production holster made specifically for the LeMat was found in a maker’s or retailer’s listing; a search of a large muzzleloading retailer found holsters for other Pietta models only. Period holsters existed in variety: Bruce Kusrow, quoted by Edmunds, describes originals with “large fold-over flaps with straps and buckles,” flaps alone, open tops and lined bodies, “even scarcer than the pistols.”18 Don Bryan had “never seen or heard of a pommel holster” for the LeMat.18 A LeMat holster is a custom-maker’s job, and the non-firing replica is a convenient pattern.
  • Moulds. No LeMat-specific modern mould was found. The Pietta’s .454 in ball and .27 in shot are standard sizes (Volume 5).
  • Cases. Original LeMats were sometimes cased; the Rock Island pinfire gun came in an oak case with green velvet, two ebony cleaning rods, an Eley Brothers cap tin, a pewter oil bottle and a brass mould.28 No current maker of a LeMat case was found.
  • Powder, caps, wads, flasks and nipple wrenches are generic muzzleloading supplies covered in the muzzleloader dives.

7.13 Where to see originals

Figure 3 — A display of percussion revolvers at the Henry Hill Visitor Center, Manassas National Battlefield Park. The heavily corroded revolver with the large cylinder at the centre of the front row appears …
Figure 3 — A display of percussion revolvers at the Henry Hill Visitor Center, Manassas National Battlefield Park. The heavily corroded revolver with the large cylinder at the centre of the front row appears to be a LeMat; the photograph is filed under the LeMat revolver on Commons, but its description does not identify the guns. Photograph by Phil, CC BY 2.0.

Public collections with LeMats mentioned in the sources used here:

  • National Museum of American History, Washington: a nine-shot .40 / 16-gauge example (photographed in Volume 2).29
  • Musée de l’Armée, Paris: a Paris Second Model (photographed throughout).
  • Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung, Koblenz: a percussion LeMat (Volume 3).
  • Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, Kennesaw, Georgia, on loan from The Old Guard of the Gate City Guard of Atlanta (above).
  • Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, as Wikipedia and the Commons photograph name it: Beauregard’s engraved LeMat, according to Wikipedia, and Stuart’s hat and sword.30
  • Liège arms museum: Krider prototype serial 1, obtained from Francotte in 1891.2
  • Powerhouse Museum, Sydney: Baby LeMat serial 83, the highest known.4
  • Manassas National Battlefield Park, Henry Hill Visitor Center (above, identification tentative).

7.14 What could not be verified

  • The dates of the James D. Julia sales whose estimates are quoted.
  • Realised prices for the Baby LeMat sales (search-summary figures only).
  • Dixie Gun Works’ current price (page not readable).
  • The difference between Pietta’s “Army Steel” and “Army Old West.”
  • Any conversion cylinder, LeMat-specific holster or LeMat-specific mould in current production.
  • EMF’s state shipping policy (search summary only).
  • The identification of the LeMat in the Manassas display.

Sources

Footnotes

  1. Joe Engesser, “The LeMat Revolver,” Rock Island Auction Company, 25 July 2023, updated (May 2026 sale included), https://www.rockislandauction.com/riac-blog/lemat-revolvers, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  2. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 4378, Krider serial 2, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 2383, Baby serial 31, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  4. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 4377, Baby serial 31, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  5. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 1442, Baby serial 5, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  6. Rock Island Auction Company, auction 69, lot 1202, “Baby LeMat Centerfire Cartridge Revolver” (3 December 2016), read 2026-10-18. ↩

  7. James D. Julia, Inc., London serial 8074, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  8. James D. Julia, Inc., Second Model serial 1475, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  9. James D. Julia, Inc., London serial 8948, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  10. James D. Julia, Inc., carbine serial 206, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  11. James D. Julia, Inc., carbine serial 49, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  12. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 137, carbine serial 3157, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  13. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 148, First Model serial 28, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  14. James D. Julia, Inc., pinfire serial 3023, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  15. James D. Julia, Inc., lot 252, Second Model serial 1576, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. College Hill Arsenal, Second Model serial 1784, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  17. Rock Island Auction Company, auction 69, lot 1166, “British Proofed LeMat Second Model Grapeshot Revolver,” read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  18. Frederick R. Edmunds, “Some Thoughts on the Confederate LeMat Revolver,” ASAC Bulletin 100:24–28 (2009), read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  19. Rock Island Auction Company, auction 74, lot 3304, Paris-marked First Model, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  20. Alan Garbers, “The LeMat’s Grapeshot Revolver,” GUNS Magazine, 15 September 2021, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. F.lli Pietta, revolver catalogue (“Catalog 2025,” file dated 2026), pp. 43–49, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  22. Pietta Firearms USA, LeMat product pages (Cavalry, Navy, Army Steel, Army Old West, .44 cylinder), https://piettafirearms.com/lemat-cavalry/ and sibling pages, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  23. Holt Bodinson, “The Awesome LeMat,” GUNS Magazine, 7 February 2014, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2

  24. EMF Company, LeMat category page, https://www.emf-company.com/store/pc/LeMat-c555.htm, read 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  25. Muzzle-Loaders.com, “Pietta LeMat Cavalry Black Powder Revolver … LMC44,” https://muzzle-loaders.com/products/pietta-le-mat-calvary-black-powder-revolver-44-caliber-walnut-grip-lmc44, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  26. “First Look: Pietta LeMat Revolver,” Shooting Illustrated, https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/first-look-pietta-lemat-revolver/, read 2026-10-18 (publication date not captured). ↩

  27. F.lli Pietta, instruction manual for muzzleloading percussion firearms, English edition, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  28. Rock Island Auction Company, auction 64, lot 265, cased pinfire LeMat, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  29. National Museum of American History, NMAH-ET2012-13983, via Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-18. ↩

  30. “LeMat revolver,” English Wikipedia, read 2026-10-18. ↩

Comments (0)

  1. Loading…

Comments are held for moderation — nothing appears until approved.