James Reid was a New York gunsmith best known for his “My Friend” knuckleduster revolvers, but before he devised the idea for those he was working in New York City making traditional style revolvers.
This particular one is a Number 2 pattern example, a .32 caliber, 7-shot rimfire revolver.
These were manufactured in violation of the Rollin White patent, but not made in sufficient quantity to attract the attention of Rollin White’s lawyers.
Just to be safe, though, Reid only marked the guns with the name of his wholesale distributors.
The Reid revolvers have a clever and effective loading gate system, but suffer from a disassembly system which requires unscrewing the barrel in order to remove the cylinder.