Rare, Peerless Handcuff Co. (Mfg by) Smith & Wesson co.

 It was February 20, 1912 that the U.S. Patent Office issued Patent No. 1,017,955 to George A. Carney for a swinging bow ratchet-type adjustable handcuff. Before his invention, handcuffs were heavy, bulky and had a fixed locking bow. Carney then sold his patent to James Milton Gill, the police commissioner of Springfield, Massachusetts. Gill formed the Peerless Handcuff Company. Gill, sought out the help from his good friend Joseph H. Wesson of the Smith & Wesson gun manufacturing company. Joseph Wesson looked over the Carney patent and realized that the locking mechanism needed to be redesigned. Then Smith & Wesson started manufacturing the first handcuffs for the Peerless Handcuff Company. These handcuffs became the standard style that most modern handcuffs around the world have been designed after. A rare feature of this pair of hand cuffs is that they have both the Smith & Wesson and Peerless name on them. The first 1000 pair were marked this way.  Later handcuffs have one or the other.