CD Ladd was born in Vermont in 1849 and moved to San Francisco in 1872 to work for AJ Plate, but in 1876 he quit to open a small gun shop of his own. His partner Thomas Smith joined him in this venture, and they soon bought out another shop owned by Curry & Bro. Then sometime in 1880 Smith departed, leaving Ladd on his own.
In 1895 the company changed hands and the new owner was EH Ladd, and his connection to CD Ladd is unknown. But EH Ladd continued in business as a company until 1960 in San Francisco, although that company never built the molds and loading tools that Ladd & Smith, or CH Ladd built.
As the markings indicate on this mold it's a .45 caliber, 340 gr. mold for a .457" rifle bore. The other half of the mold blocks has a plug secured in the bottom that forms the flat nose on this mold. This mold is unmarked as the Ladd & Smith maker, and about half of those made are unmarked. Likely those marked are later production, and early molds would be the unmarked ones. But his style of molds are very distinctive if you've ever seen one, and easily recognized, even unmarked. San Francisco was a hot bed of competitive shooters, and hunters in the mid 1800's to early 1900's, with many fine gun makers, and gunsmiths. L&S is a small part of this, and an extremely rare tool to find in any condition, or caliber! Rowe & Curtis books Antique American Loading Tools cover this mold in Vol. 2 and state any Ladd & Smith molds are classed as #5 in rarity, which equates, "to rarely ever seen, or one of a kind".
