Marlin Arms Corporation

Beautifully engraved SCARCE SPECIMEN certificate from the Marlin Arms Corporation. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company around 1914 and has an ornate border around it with the printed names of the Trustees. This is the first time we have seen this certificate.

The company was founded by John Mahlon Marlin, who opened his New Haven gun shop for business in 1870 . Marlin manufactured the the oldest shoulder arm designs in the world still being produced. Originally introduced as Models 1891 and 1893 respectively, they still mirror the original designs. Marlin is the largest manufacturer of .22 rifles in America.

John M. Marlin was born in Connecticut in 1836, and served his apprenticeship as a tool and die maker. During the Civil War, he worked at the Colt plant in Hartford. Marlin hung out his own sign on State Street in New Haven in 1870 and began manufacturing a line of revolvers, pistols and derringers.

When John Marlin died in 1901, his two sons took over the business. A New York group purchased the company in 1915 and renamed it the Marlin Rockwell Corporation. The company made machine guns for the U.S. and its allies and became one of the largest machine gun producers in the world. The non firearm portion of the business was manufacturing ball bearings and other non friction products. The Marlin Firearms operation was auctioned off in 1924.

The surviving company continued with the name Marlin - Rockwell. They made non friction products for aircraft, motors, engines, business machines, pumps and other types of moving equipment parts. The company was acquired by Thompson Ramo Wooldridge Corporation in 1964. The company changed its name to TRW Inc. in 1965.