Four-Barrel
Knife Pistol
This is a rare,
possibly unique, four-barrel percussion knife pistol. It is not a true volley
gun but neither is it a four-shot pistol as each hammer fires two of the four
barrels. The gun has no proof or maker's marks nor anything else to indicate
either its country of origin or date of manufacture although an educated guess
might be that it was made in Europe, possibly France or Germany, between 1850
and 1870.
The pistol is 13 inch
long with an 8 inch blade and 3 inch barrels. The grips are horn. The lock
plates, triggers and hammers have been quite lightly and crudely engraved. The
metal may have been quite rusted at some point and is now stained and lightly
pitted. Mechanically the lock functions extremely well and was clearly made by a
gifted gunsmith.
Dr Hugo
