Product Details
MILLS,
A RARE 46-BORE PERCUSSION FIVE-SHOT TRANSITIONAL REVOLVER, MODEL MILLS & COLLIER,
circa 1830, 5 3/4in. octagonal barrel with separate top-rib signed 'MILLS'S PATENT. LATE MILLS & COLLIER' (breech-end of rib repaired, legend partially re-engraved), spring-loaded hand rotated fluted chamber, border and scroll engraved back-action lock signed 'MILLS'S PATENT, LATE MILLS & COLLIER, action top-plate border lined and engraved with a martial trophy, slim walnut chequered bag-shaped butt, rectangular silver escutcheon to wrist, square-backed border and trophy engraved trigger-guard, under-barrel rib with brass-mounted ebony rammer (iron surfaces discoloured with small isolated areas of pitting, missing flash-guard from front of cylinder
Provenance: Mills took over the rights to the Collier design when production of the original flintlock revolver ceased in 1824. Using the percussion principle and simplifying the action, Mills continued to produce these revolvers into the 1830's when cheaper designs forced him to discontinue his hand-made revolver. The percussion examples are seldom encountered today, but a near identical example (with a larger barrel profile) exists in the Royal Armouries Collection, Leeds
Estimate £8,000-10,000