Welcome to as we speak’s Photo of the Day! Within the heyday earlier than Colt’s patent popularized revolving firearms, gunsmiths throughout Europe experimented with their very own distinctive revolver designs. One such artisan inventor, Salvatore Mazza of Naples, crafted a panoramic and unorthodox private protection pistol round 1820-1830. This five-chambered hand cannon proudly bore Mazza’s identify inlaid in gold, declaring him the official armorer to Royalty. However seems to be solely hinted on the ingenuity inside. Fairly than routinely rotating like Colt’s variations, the shooter needed to manually pull again and spin the cylinder into the subsequent divided chamber. To stop muzzle leaks between barrel and chamber, Mazza engineered extensions that seated snugly into the breech after every blast. With no skill to load from behind, every lead ball needed to be rammed down the muzzle one after the other – necessitating the discreet numbers etched on the cylinder’s face. Although impractical for battlefield use, this revealed the gifted options pioneers devised whereas revolvers had been nonetheless of their adolescence.
“This excellent and extremely scarce early percussion revolver is documented on web page 128 of “A Evaluate of 162 Vintage Arms and Pertinent Objects. . .” by Robert Held in 1976 and listed as “A really uncommon Italian five-shot muzzle-loading percussion revolver on the Collier system, 1820-30…” The octagonal Damascus barrel has finely grooved “micro-groove” rifling, a dovetailed blade entrance sight with giant rounded base, “Mazza Armiere di S.A.R. Il Princ. di Salerno” (Mazza Gunmaker/Armorer to His Royal Highness the Prince of Salerno) in gold inlaid script on the higher rib, prospers of scroll engraving on the higher and decrease ribs close to the breech, and a notch rear sight on the tail of the higher rib. The cylinder has twin gold bands (one broad and one skinny) close to the entrance of the chambers together with an engraved border at the vanguard, properly formed cups round every of the nipples and gold inlaid 1-5 respectively on every chamber. The cylinder is manually pulled rearward with the intention to be superior by hand whereas the lock is at full-cock. Every chamber has a rounded extension on the entrance that matches inside the breech finish of the barrel offering a tighter fuel seal.”
Lot 1302: Engraved and Inlaid Mazza Italian Collier Percussion Revolver – Extremely Scarce Documented Engraved and Gold Inlaid Collier System Percussion Revolver by the Gunmaker to His Royal Highness the Prince of Salerno. (n.d.-o). Rock Island Public sale Firm. {photograph}. Retrieved Could 9, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/element/82/1302/engraved-and-inlaid-mazza-italian-collier-percussion-revolver.
