{"id":500,"date":"2022-10-31T21:55:19","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T21:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=500"},"modified":"2022-10-31T21:55:19","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T21:55:19","slug":"collectible-firearms-for-serious-gun-collectors-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunowner-news.com\/?p=500","title":{"rendered":"Collectible Firearms for Serious Gun Collectors"},"content":{"rendered":"


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John Marlin founded one of America\u2019s finest sporting arms manufacturers<\/a>. His eldest son, Mahlon, continued John\u2019s legacy and completed development on his father\u2019s line of slide action shotguns and rifles, including the Marlin Model 20. Rock Island Auction is proud to offer an exquisitely engraved Marlin Model 20 slide action takedown rifle owned by Mahlon Henry Marlin during his tenure as President of Marlin Firearms Co.<\/p>\n

The Marlin Arms Company<\/h3>\n

John Marlin\u2019s first son, Mahlon Henry Marlin, was born on Jul 23, 1864. During this period John worked as a machinist for Colt Patent Fire-Arms<\/a> in Hartford, Connecticut before deciding to venture out on his own in April of 1870, moving his small family to New Haven and opening a tiny shop on State Street known as \u201cJ.M. Marlin.\u201d Handguns were John Marlin\u2019s first love and the intrepid gun inventor<\/a> produced about a dozen models of derringers, revolvers, and single shot pistols with names such as \u201cVictor,\u201d \u201cLittle Joker,\u201d and \u201cNever Miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the years following the Civil War<\/a>, the firearms business was booming as an influx of settlers heading out west sought the best means to hunt and to protect their families. Looking to expand his firearms line, Marlin kept his eye open for patents that could be manufactured on a light production basis. The Ballard rifle design, a patent acquired from New York retailer Shoverling & Daly<\/a>, proved to be an ideal match. Recognizing Marlin\u2019s talent, Charles Daly and August Schoverling approached John Marlin to produce the Ballard rifle and requested he improve the design to appeal to the sporting market.<\/p>\n

Producing single shot pistols and Ballard rifles helped John Marlin gain the engineering knowledge and manufacturing experience to produce the lever action and slide action firearms that would later define his brand. In 1881, John Marlin registered patents for his Model 1881 lever action rifle<\/a>, the first repeater sturdy enough to chamber the .45-70 big bore caliber. Shoverling & Daly secured the capital and stakeholders necessary to incorporate the company, and Marlin Fire Arms Co. was born.<\/p>\n

Mahlon Marlin and the Marlin Fire Arms Co.<\/h3>\n

Mahlon Henry Marlin was the first of four sons of John Marlin and Martha Susan Moore. Sadly, only two of the boys, Mahlon and his younger brother, John Howard, would survive to adulthood. Both brothers took an early interest in their father\u2019s business, with Mahlon expressing a talent for art and engineering.<\/p>\n

Mahlon <\/strong>attended Yale University and graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School in 1886, then returned to New Haven to work as a draftsman in his father\u2019s factory and learn the family trade firsthand. Ever the engineer, Mahlon registered U.S. Patent 384,990 on June 26, 1888 for a \u201cVelocipede,\u201d an early bicycle design, but most of his creative efforts for the next three decades would be spent growing the Marlin brand.<\/p>\n

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