It may look like a harmless wooden toy but this vintage BB gun used to pack quite a punch. The Chicago spring piston air gun, which has an unusual wooden construction with rugged looking wire fittings, was patented by the Markham Air Rifle Company of Plymouth, Michigan in 1887.The guns, which fired small lead balls in the "BB" shotgun size, were cheap to make and appear to have been quite popular, as they were made up until 1910.While the history of this particular gun is unknown they were marketed quite widely in New Zealand, with newspaper advertisements appearing in the early 1890s. One Evening Post advertisement even claimed that the "safe and handy" weapon would make a cat howl and run ten miles. The gun's ability to "knock over" sparrows or "stray fowl" in the home garden was also used as a selling point.