Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! In the heyday before Colt’s patent popularized revolving firearms, gunsmiths across Europe experimented with their own unique revolver designs. One such artisan inventor, Salvatore Mazza of Naples, crafted a breathtaking and unorthodox personal defense pistol around 1820-1830. This five-chambered hand cannon proudly bore Mazza’s name inlaid in gold, declaring him the official armorer to Royalty. But looks only hinted at the ingenuity within. Rather than automatically rotating like Colt’s versions, the shooter had to manually pull back and spin the cylinder into the next divided chamber. To prevent muzzle leaks between barrel and chamber, Mazza engineered extensions that seated snugly into the breech after each blast. With no ability to load from behind, each lead ball had to be rammed down the muzzle one by one – necessitating the discreet numbers etched on the cylinder’s face. Though impractical for battlefield use, this revealed the talented solutions pioneers devised while revolvers were still in their adolescence.
“This outstanding and incredibly scarce early percussion revolver is documented on page 128 of “A Review of 162 Antique Arms and Pertinent Objects. . .” by Robert Held in 1976 and listed as “A very rare 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 front sight with large 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 upper rib, flourishes of scroll engraving on the upper and lower ribs near the breech, and a notch rear sight at the tail of the upper rib. The cylinder has dual gold bands (one broad and one thin) near the front of the chambers along with an engraved border at the leading edge, nicely shaped cups around each of the nipples and gold inlaid 1-5 respectively on each chamber. The cylinder is manually pulled rearward in order to be advanced by hand while the lock is at full-cock. Each chamber has a rounded extension at the front that fits within the breech end of the barrel providing a tighter gas seal.”
Lot 1302: Engraved and Inlaid Mazza Italian Collier Percussion Revolver – Incredibly 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 Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved May 9, 2024, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/82/1302/engraved-and-inlaid-mazza-italian-collier-percussion-revolver.
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