Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 204Ф,Y

A Continental 90-Bore Pin-Fire Double-Action Revolver And Cartridge Box, By Repute The Gift Of King Umberto To Garibaldi
Signed F.lli Rocco Inc., Milano, Circa 1880

17 May 2017, 13:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £1,500 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Arms and Armour specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

A Continental 90-Bore Pin-Fire Double-Action Revolver And Cartridge Box, By Repute The Gift Of King Umberto To Garibaldi
Signed F.lli Rocco Inc., Milano, Circa 1880

The first with round barrel signed beneath, cut with a waved design overall and with a gold-inlaid line around the muzzle and breech, the former engraved with bands of foliage and with chiselled gold-inlaid fore-sight, octagonal breech chiselled in bas-relief with designs of foliage within slender gold line borders and highlighted with gold dots, cylinder, frame with hinged loading-gate (bent), hammer, folding trigger (incomplete) and butt all decorated en suite, cartridge-extracting rod acting against a spring, and rounded ivory grips (right one with minor damage, minor surface rust patination); the second of white-metal engraved with scrolling foliage, the hinged lid engraved with a gothic 'U' on a crowned shield within symmetrical foliage, all against an engine turned ground and opening to reveal twelve cylindrical cartridge holders, the base engine turned with a rayed design (3)
The first 14.3 cm. barrel, the second 6.9 cm. x 2.8 cm.

Footnotes

Offered with a typed and annotated note reading: 'Pistol given to Don Pietro Quartano di Calogerras by Garibaldi. Given by Pietro Quartano (Irma Bailey's great-grandfather) to his son Nico who later gave it to his brother-in-law, Col. Sir Wm. Everett. The silver cartouche box belongs to it. The pistol is said to have been given to Garibaldi by the King of Italy, Umberto'

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) is considered, with Camillo Cavour, Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Mazzini, as one of Italy's "fathers of the fatherland".

Garibaldi was a central figure in the Italian Risorgimento, since he personally commanded and fought in many military campaigns that led eventually to the formation of a unified Italy. He was appointed general by the provisional government of Milan in 1848, General of the Roman Republic in 1849 by the Minister of War, and led the Expedition of the Thousand on behalf and with the consent of Victor Emmanuel II.

He has been called the "Hero of Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in Brazil, Uruguay and Europe. These earned him a considerable reputation in Italy and abroad, aided by exceptional international media coverage at the time. Many of the greatest intellectuals of his time, such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and George Sand, showered him with admiration

Peter Quartano di Calogheria, a lawyer from Corfu, was Secretary to Dionysos Solomos (composer of the verses that became the Greek National anthem) and was also a leading figure in the context of the Southern rebellion who was instructed to deal with the political persecution of Sicilians and Italians in Corfu

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A Cased Pair Of Scottish 50-Bore Percussion Duelling Or Target Pistols By Alex.r Martin, Glasgow, Mid-19th Century

The medals and associate ephemera and uniforms of Arthur Watts, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons

A Pair Of Highland All-Metal Percussion Belt Pistols Signed Paton & Walsh Perth, Mid 19th century

A Silver-Mounted Left-Hand Dagger, probably German, Italian or English Late 16th Century Or Later

FOUR REPRODUCTION CARVED POWDER HORNS/FLASKS.late 20th century.

A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE AND REPRODUCTION POWDER FLASKS AND RELATED SPORTING ITEMS.

THREE VICTORIAN ARMS AND ARMOUR DECORATIVE ITEMS.