#HTE

The Sure Defender: An Antique Multitool of Death

While the manufacturer of this 19th-century item is unknown, the product’s name is stamped right into the brass: “The Sure Defender.”

Image: iCollector

Probably made in America, it’s essentially a multitool of death, offering a small dagger, brass knuckles, and a single-shot pistol. That’s it. If you need to open a bottle of wine or pick your teeth, try Switzerland.

Image: iCollector

Image: iCollector

The model you see here, serial #219, sold at auction for $5,000 in 2014. The auction house theorizes that this was “an early developmental or prototype model” and notes that “the absence of proof house or import marks…suggest American manufacture.”

Image: iCollector

An earlier version with the serial #150 also sold (price unknown) in 2014 at a different auction. Interestingly, we can see that they started out by carving the product name into the brass by hand, which was surely more time-consuming and expensive than #219’s stamp job.

Image: Invaluable

Image: Invaluable

Image: Invaluable

For a closer look, collector website Littlegun offers these detail shots of a third model, serial #193:

Image: Littlegun

Image: Littlegun

Image: Littlegun

Image: Littlegun

Image: Littlegun

Image: Littlegun

Image: Littlegun

Lastly, YouTube channel Forgotten Weapons takes a video look at the gun below. It’s these guys who place the weapon circa 1860s.


https://www.core77.com/posts/111009/The-Sure-Defender-An-Antique-Multitool-of-Death